Code Lyoko: The Ultimate Journey
by Master Doom Maker
Summary: The gang thought their lives were getting back to normal. But Xana has returned, and the gang has become involed in a whole new journey like no other. Takes place at the end of the series. Filled with many new adventures as the gang and new friends take way to a whole new journey. Please read and review. Romance UxY, OxS, JxA, Wx to be determined, OC's x-
1. THE NEW JOURNEY BEGIN'S

**CODE LYOKO**

**THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY**

**CHAPTER 1: THE NEW JOURNEY BEGIN'S**

_Three weeks after the fall of __X.A.N.A._

Xana was gone, the Lyoko warriors have finally defeated the virus. Their lives were finally getting back to normal and for the obvious it was about time.

Another school day, another day without having to worry about Xana's attacks, or the world in immediate danger, or lives on the line. As the gang sit out at their usual spot, on the benches in the school grounds. Observing the daily things that they've almost forgotten.

Jim doing his usual rounds.

Sissi still bossing Nicolas and Herve around.

Milly and Tamiya getting their next scoop.

And the teachers doing what they do.

Yes back to normal.

As the gang sat before the bell rang to get to class "Well guys another day, another no possible Xana attack, feels great." Odd said to no one in particular.

"Yeah, just another day." Jeremie replied.

"And another, and another, and another. When's Yumi getting here anyway?" Ulrich asked them.

"Don't worry she'll be here soon Ulrich." Aelita says to him.

"Hey guys," Yumi calls out and sits down with them."So how's it going guys, anything new?" She asks them.

"Well other then the usual, no nothing." Ulrich says to her. Just then they notice William walked by the gang.

"Hey William, come sit down with us, there's plenty of room." Odd calls to him.

"Umm th-that's okay, I'm fine, just passing by." William says to them.

"William, you got to stop beating yourself up over what happened, we forgive you already." Yumi says to him.

"But..." He says before Ulrich interrupts him.

"C'mon sit down already." Ulrich said.

Accepting defeat he joins the gang at the benches. The Lyoko warriors all together again. "So this is our life now huh?" William asks them.

"I guess so." Ulrich says.

"I suppose after fighting Xana so long, we almost forgot how to live normal lives." Jeremie points out.

"But at least we still have each other after all the danger we've been in. It's because of you guys I can now live a normal life like everyone else without having to fight Xana anymore." Aelita said to her long time friends.

_RING!_ The school bell went and they headed off to their classes and back to they're normal life.

The day was as it always was.

Ulrich staring off into the view.

Odd sleeping on his desk.

Jeremie showing up Herve as always.

Aelita the perfect student.

Yumi drawing her fan-blades in her history class.

William as he always is.

As the day came to a close, (and after Odd stuffing himself at dinner) the gang says their good-byes to Yumi as she heads home. The others then went back into the living areas and settle in for the night.

In Ulrich and Odd's room after they're shower.

"So Ulrich you gonna ask Yumi tomorrow or what man? It's been three weeks or so." Odd asks while playing with his dog Kiwi.

"I'll ask her tomorrow I promise you that Odd. I'm just a little nervous about asking." Ulrich replies back in an almost annoyed tone.

"Don't worry about it, you will do fine. Well we better get to bed then, so you can ask her first thing in the morning." Odd says followed by laughter.

The two settled in for the night with Kiwi lying on Odd's chest and Ulrich lied back on his bed. Tomorrow the gangs lives will be changed in a way they never expected.

()()()()()()()()

In the factory the dormant supercomputer began to start back up on it's own. Electricity began to spark from various power cords. The power came back online and the screens turned back on. The hologram that would show Lyoko instead showed an image of the cosmos spreading out, and on the main screen showed an image of Earth spinning around and then stop on the land mass that is France, then next a radio wave image starts coming closer to Earth, a signal from an unknown source, then Xana's sign appeared on the screen.

"_This is not the end fools, I will win!"_

THE NEXT MORNING

The day starts up as usual and the gang sat at their usual spot on the benches.

"So guys do you wanna do anything after school?" Odd says to them.

"How about a movie?" Aelita says

"Sounds like a good idea Aelita." William said to her.

"Hey guys." Yumi calls to them and sits down.

"Hey Ulrich, it's now or never man." Odd whispers to him.

"I know Odd just be quiet okay." Ulrich says to him through gritted teeth. Ulrich got up from his spot and walked over to her. "Hey Yumi can I ask you something?" Ulrich says to her.

"Sure Ulrich. What is it?" She asks.

"Follow me. I need to ask you in private." He says and leads her over to the big tree and leaving the others sitting at the bench.

"So what classes do you guys have today?" Odd asks the rest sitting at the benches.

"Well I have science with Mrs. Hertz class first, then I have..." But Jeremie didn't finish, as they saw a few students run by heading to the student room and overheard one of them say.

"Come on it's happening all over the world. Let's find a news channel" One of them said.

"What are they talking about?" William questions.

"Let's find out. It may be very important." Odd said to them and the remaining gang got up and followed.

The four entered the students room with a few of the students as well. They turned the TV on, but the image on the screen kept fading on and off but managed to find a news channel with a familiar news lady.

()()()()()()()()()

"Reports are pouring in all over the world, power is fading in and out for no reason. Power drops in all major continents, from America to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Japan. And even small islands and so on are being effected as well." The news woman started.

"Power drops have slowed down all major cities and towns almost anyplace where power is available with no reason or leads as to who or what is the cause. I'm... what's that?" She pauses and presses her finger to her ear piece getting the latest update. "I've just been told the that the power and where it's going has been traced to a small factory in a small city in France. We now go to our reporter on the scene." The news woman said as the image changed to a male reporter.

()()()()()()()

"Thank you. The power has been traced to this factory as you can see." The reporter said pointing to the factory from a far distance glowing bright like a beacon in the night with several other news teams getting the scene for other news stations across the world.

"High voltages of power have been converging to this one spot and surprisingly have not overloaded any power transformers, but still no idea as to what is the cause of this strange event." The reporter continued.

()()()()()()()

As the reporter continued talking while the gang watched, all of a sudden Jeremie's laptop starts beeping a familiar tone. "It can't be! It just can't be!" Jeremie says while reaching for his backpack with his laptop in.

He pulls it out and opens it and the familiar alert of Xana appears. "This is impossible! Xana is gone." William says to them.

"I don't know how, but we got to stop him no matter what. Let's head to the factory." Aelita said getting up from her seat.

"We need to get Ulrich and Yumi then we will go to the factory." Odd added.

"Let's go then guys. We don't have a moment to lose. William you come with us, we may need everyone on board for this one." Jeremie says to him, and with that they head outside.

"Sure thing, and thanks for letting me back in guys." William said while following them.

()()()()()()()()

Meanwhile by the tree.

"So Yumi we've been together for awhile, and we even had a moment when Jeremie did that last return to the past when Sissi found the factory... again." Ulrich said to Yumi while nervously rubbing the back of his head.

"I know Ulrich. The last return to the past when we... well held hands." She says blushing slightly at the memory.

"So anyway I was hoping to, to well ask you uhh-" Ulrich tried to ask.

"Yes Ulrich." Yumi asked, hoping he would ask her.

"Well I was hoping-" But Ulrich never finished as Odd called out to them.

"Ulrich! Yumi! We need to head to the factory, it Xana! He's back somehow." Odd cries out.

"What are you talking about Odd? Xana's gone for good." Ulrich says to Odd.

"It's true, Xana is somehow drawing power from all over the world and sending it to the factory. We saw it on the news." Jeremie adds in.

"But how, and for what purpose? What will he do with all that power?" Yumi asks him

"I don't know, but we have to stop him, let's go before it's too late." Jeremie says and they all began to run to the forest.

"Just when things were finally getting back to normal." Ulrich says to himself before running off with the rest of the group.

As they ran the gang passed Yumi's brother Hiroki and his friend Johnny. As they passed by, Hiroki calls out to her. "Hey Yumi where are you going to in such a hurry?" He asks his sister.

"Not now Hiroki I got something important to do okay." She replies stopping for a moment to answer him as the gang got ahead of her.

"Something to do with Ulrich huh!" Hiroki laughs.

"You are such a pain! I've got to go, so just leave me alone already." Yumi says in anger and then runs off to catch up with the others leaving Hiroki a little hurt.

()()()()()()()()

In principle Delmas office.

"Well then, all the forms are signed and notarized, and your parents will be here soon with your stuff. So with that, I welcome you to Kadic Academy Miss. Knight." Delmas said as he put the files away in his desk and reaches to shake Sam's hand.

"Thank you sir, and you can just call me Sam by the way." Sam says shaking his hand back.

"Now then, you should head to your class to get acquainted and also get the rest of your class schedule as well." Delmas added.

"Sure thing Mr. Delmas. Have a nice day." Sam says and then headed out of his office. As she left, Delmas sat back down to play that weird penguin game on his computer.

As he played, the power suddenly cut off then turn back on again. "Now what's going on?" He says as he tries to figure out what is wrong with his computer, unaware of what will be happening soon.

Sam left the office and walked out into the school grounds. All of a sudden she sees the gang running by very fast. She then noticed Odd was with them as well. "Odd?" She says to herself and decides to follow them.

()()()()()()()()

"Whats going on with the power?" Nicolas questions looking at a power transformer form across the street, sparking with electricity.

"It is pretty weird, it should have at least blown by now." Herve says to them.

"Who cares, let the city deal with it." Sissi says to them, annoyed by their conversation. And then suddenly the gang runs by her almost knocking her down.

"Hey watch where your going! And where are you going anyway?" Sissi calls to them.

"Sorry Sissi, but we don't have time to deal with you right now." Ulrich cries out as they head to the secret manhole in the small forest on school grounds.

"Wait, you can't just leave, what's going on?" Sissi shouts, but they were out of view.

"Weird, I wonder what they're up to now?" Nicolas says to them.

"I don't know but daddy's gonna hear about this." she says to her followers. Just then Sam comes running by, bumping right into Sissi and knocking her down to the ground. "Hey watch it new girl!" Sissi yells at her.

"Sorry about that, but I can't help you up right now." Sam turned and said, then ran out of sight.

()()()()()()()()

The gang found their manhole and opened it and slipped in, not bothering to put the cover on. Sam saw them just as Odd was last one that got in and she followed in as well. They all grabbed their skateboards and scooters, and headed down the familiar sewer line that they traveled countless times before. Sam saw them head off as she got to the spot where their boards were. Thankfully she had her skateboard with her book-bag and pulled it out and head down the sewer line not far from the group.

()()()()()()()()

On the surface things were getting worse, the light from the factory was getting brighter, people were panicking on the street's, fear of the unknown that was about to happen.

As the news reporter continued to report the event that was going on, one of the cameraman shouts "Look! There's some kids on the bridge." The cameraman said and pointed his camera to the group coming out of the manhole in the middle of the bridge and went into the factory.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a even weirder turn of events has happened now. A bunch of kids have emerged from a manhole and have now headed into the factory. This day has gotten even stranger, as to who or where they have come from only adds to the mystery that has been going on this day." The reporter said to the camera pointing at him.

()()()()()()()()

Back in the school in the student recreation room.

"Hey isn't that Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Jeremie, Aelita, and William on TV?" The girl Emily said out loud, wondering what they were doing there.

"Look, it's that new girl Sam. We tried to interview her on what it's like to be the new girl in school." Milly said.

"She just brushed us off." Tamiya said to no one in particular.

"I can't believe those punks are there, their parents are gonna hear this, I'll tell you that much." Jim said, watching the news as well.

()()()()()()()()

In the factory

The gang arrived in the factory and headed into the elevator. "Well guys here we go yet again." Jeremie said, pushing the button for the door to start closing.

"I thought this nightmare was over. I thought we would finally start having a normal life again." Yumi says to her friends

"Well I guess not, so here goes another round with Xana." Ulrich said. The elevator door was almost closed as Sam rolls in just before the door fully closes, surprising the gang.

"Sam! What are you doing here?" Odd says surprised.

"What is this Odd? Why are you here?" Sam questions him.

"Who is this girl Odd? Do you know her?" William asks Odd while pointing to her.

"There's no time to worry about this, we have to deal with Xana right now." Jeremie said as the elevator door open to reveal the computer room and the gang walked out. "Okay guys get to the scanners, I'll get them started. And Sam just stay with me." Jeremie says sitting into his computer chair.

As the rest head to the elevator, it suddenly slams shut locking them in the room. "Jeremie we're locked in, we can't get to the scanners!" Aelita cries out to him.

"What do we do? The elevator door is closed and the hatches are sealed and electricity is sparking off them." Ulrich says.

"Great, what do we do now?" Odd said in disbelief.

"_YOU FOOLS!" _A strange voice calls out.

"Who said that?" Yumi said looking around the room.

"_I've dealt with you and put up with your interference long enough." _The voice called out from an unknown source.

"Is that... Xana?" Odd says to them.

"It can't be. How is he talking to us?" Jeremie questions as he looked around from his seat.

"_For too long you have stopped my plans, foiled my plots, and prevented me from claiming my rightful place as master of all being's. So now I will take you to a place where the odds will be in my favor, if I can't stop you here then I will finish you elsewhere."_ His voice cried out.

"What does he mean by that?" Aelita asks. Suddenly the power from the computer core lights up sending a wave of light from the holostation upward into the room blinding the gang.

"Whats going on?" Sam shouts.

"I can't see anything." Odd says.

"I'm feeling very strange." William said.

"Guys, our bodies are fading away!" Jeremie cries, looking at his fading body as well as the others.

"Ulrich!" Yumi calls to him.

"Yumi!" Ulrich calls back as they both reached for each others hands, terrified of whats happening. All of them faded away as the light got brighter and shot outside for all to see.

()()()()()()()()

The reporter and camera crew was startled by the light that shot up into the sky. The whole world witnessing the event that has happened just now.

()()()()()

In Delmas's office.

"Hold on officer, you said you saw some students near where?" Delmas was on the phone from a call that he received from the police.

"Daddy I need to tell you something, I saw Ulrich and his gang heading off into the woods." Sissi said entering his office.

"Not now Sissi, I'm on the phone with an officer right now," He said to her, covering the phone with his hand.

"But daddy I-" But Sissi she never finished as the light shined so bright it poured into the office window and blinded them as well. "What's happening?" Sissi cries covering her eyes.

()()()()()()()

"Johnny look!" Hiroki said pointing to the blinding light that shined and enveloping the entire city as they too we're obscured by the light's glow.

()()()()()()()

"Where's that light coming from?" Emily shouts as she and the other students looked out the window in the student lounge at the light shooting into the sky.

()()()()()()()()

The whole city was blanketed by the great light. It was seen for hundreds of miles across the land. It's brightness shining through the sky and into the atmosphere and into the cold depths of space, with no one aware of where the gang was going. Their whole lives were about to change in a way they would have never suspected. As the light died down and faded away, the world was left to wonder. What will happen next?

**END CHAPTER.**


	2. NEW ARRIVALS

**CHAPTER 2: NEW ARRIVALS**

"Reports of a strange light from a factory, in a small city in France, have lead to an international investigation tha-"

_Channel Flip_

"Power has returned to normal worldwide, but as for the cause has still left people baffled as to how this is even possible."

_Channel Flip_

"As for the identity of the young teens that we're seen at the factory, have yet to be found but believe to be from an international boarding school called Kadic Academy. A highly regarded school that for ye-"

_Channel Flip_

"Public outcry from all over the world, have been demanding that their governments release information on what is the cause to this strange event that has taken place only a few hour's ago."

_Channel Flip_

"Religious sects from all over the world as you can see. Millions have flocked to Churches, Synagogues, Temples, and other places of worship, to prey for redemption, believing this strange light as a sign from God hoping to finally ha-"

_Channel Flip_

"As the President of the United States and the Ambassador of France are about to make a worldwide statement in the UN, to both calm and assure the world, that whatever is the cause, will be investigated, and to assure everyone-"

_Channel Flip_

"It's an alien invasion we need to get prepared, they have contacted the mothership, and are heading for us right now. We must ready everyone to- let go of me officer! We can't waste anytime, we can't waste anytime we-"

_Channel Flip_

"Geez it's everywhere, on every TV station in the world." Jim said flipping channels on his small TV in his room.

()()()()()()()()

In Delmas's office

"I send my daughter here, and in less then a day she turns up missing?" A tall and large dark skinned man by the name of Mr. Knight said standing in the principles office along with his African born wife Mrs. knight. And as well of the rest of the gangs parents, that have come for various reasons before they found out their kids were missing.

Ulrich's parents came to talk to him about how his grades were finally improving over the last few weeks, but still not good enough.

Odd's parents were there just to surprise him because they miss him.

Jeremie's parents came to talk about his college acceptance that he has been receiving lately.

Williams parents to check up on him, after all they still feel William is still not well. Unaware that for a long time their son was possessed by Xana, and that the gang made a digital clone of him that for a lack of a better word was 'a little slow' and just wanted to spend some time with him.

And as for Yumi's, parents they were called by Delmas over the fact that she's missing.

"Mr. Knight please, the police are looking into it as we speak, and will give us an answer as soon as-"

"I want to know where she is now!" He yelled slamming his fists onto the desk, cracking it a little bit, his eyes full of anger but also concern for his only daughter. His wife came over to put her hand on his shoulder.

"Please calm down dear they will find her as soon as possible." She assured him, in her light African accent.

"I just can't believe they're all gone, where could they possibly be?" Odds father ask.

"All we can do is hope for the best and wait for the police to find them." Odd's kind mother says holding her husbands hand with both of hers.

"Don't worry Mrs. Della-Robbia, I'm sure your son and his cousin Aelita are somewhere near." Mr. Delmas answers.

"Wait, what cousin?" Mr. Della-Robbia asks with confusion.

"Why Aelita Stones of course. His cousin from Canada." Delmas replies.

"We don't have family in Canada. And there's no one on any side of our family that has Stones for a last name either." Mrs. Della-Robbia says as well.

"What is going on here? First our kids are missing, and now we have a mystery girl who claims to be from this family, but isn't?" Ulrichs father chimes in, knowing at least who their sons are friends.

"Now that I think about it, we talked to Hiroki and he said Yumi and her friends ran off into the woods before all this happened." Mr. Ishiyama said.

"Maybe we should look in the woods to see if we can find any leads." Mrs. Ishiyama said in response.

"Yes we should, after all my daughter did see them go in the forest too, and Sam also seemed to be following them." Mr. Delmas said, scratching his beard.

"Well then lets not waste anytime then. Lets go." Mr. Belpois said heading for the door, but before he opened it, Jim walked in with two secret service like men behind him with serious faces.

"What is the meaning of this Jim?" Delmas said rising from his seat with his hands on his desk for support.

"Well these guys have found out that those students are from this school, and want to talk to you." Jim said as one of the Agents walked pass him.

"I know this is very serious to you all, so understand, we will ask you questions regarding your kids, and hopefully we will find an answer. So if you know anything at all, maybe we will find a lead to this, because after all your children were at the epicenter of this strange event." The brown haired Agent said, with a serious but caring tone.

"Well my daughter was only here for a few hours, there's no way she can have anything to do with this." Mr. Knight says to the agent.

"Yes we know. We already eliminated her as a possible suspect in this case, at least for now. You used to be a Spec. Ops When you met your wife in Africa before settling here in France am I correct?" The Agent said turning to him.

"Not for a damn long time, and I would appreciate it if you never bring it up again." Mr. Knight said with a serious tone, remembering some things he wish he would forget.

"Sirs please, my Jeremie is a good boy and so are his friends, even though I haven't met them yet except Aelita that one holiday break. So I still believe they are not the cause of this." Mrs. Belpois said, she had blond hair and bright blue eyes just like Jeremie, and she had a heavy French accent.

"Your name is Belpois, yet you don't have an accent like her?" the Agent asked her husband.

"Oh, well I'm of French descent, but I was born in New York, and I got a collage scholarship in France and well... long story short I met my wife and I settled here with her." He replied looking at his wife of the fond memory he often thinks about.

"I see. Well then we will search their rooms, maybe we can find some clues there." The Agent said to both the parents and his partner. But before they headed to they're rooms, Jim said to them.

"Uh you know they're about to address the world at the UN, I suggest we watch. After all the whole schools waiting as well, after you canceled all classes today Delmas." Jim suggested.

"I guess we should Jim, maybe the governments might have found out what is the cause of all this. There's a TV system in the teachers lounge." Delmas said to everyone in his office.

"Well then lets head to the teachers lounge first." The Agent said, and with that they headed there.

()()()()()()()()

They entered the teachers lounge and turned on the TV to the news channel. "Now let's see if there's been any changes." Delmas said flipping to the world news station, and on that channel a news woman reported.

()()()()()()()()

"Welcome back, we are moments away from the world address at the UN of this strange event taken place today. But before that we have found the identity's of the young students that were seen entering the factory before the strange light that shot up into the air." She said as she continued. "Investigators have tried to enter the factory but have reported that there is an 'electrical barrier' preventing them from entering, just outside of the entrance to the factory, but will continue to try to find a way in." She said showing an image of the barrier to the factory.

()()()()()()()

"How strange, a barrier. Do we even have that kind of technology?" Jeremie's father said to them.

"I don't recall any of us allowing them to release information on our kids." Ulrich's father said looking towards the agent.

"I'm afraid your looking at the wrong man here, we have nothing to do with this. There's many other ways to get information on people these days." The Agent said defending himself.

"Look their showing our kids now." Ulrich's mother said pointing to the screen.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Now as for the students." She said as an image of each of the gang appeared on the screen and began to report them.

"Ulrich Stern, a 14 year old, in 9th grade." Showing his picture.

"Yumi Ishiyama, a 15 year old in 10th grade and also a day student only." Her image next.

"William Dunbar, a 15 year old in 10th grade, but was kicked out of another school for putting up posters all over his last school." His picture showed.

"Odd Della-Robbia, a 14 year old in 9th grade." A funny picture of him.

"Jeremie Belpois, a 14 year old in 9th grade." His picture next.

"Samantha Knight, a 14 year old in 9th grade, and only just transferred to Kadic academy only a few hours ago." A photo of her from her old school.

"And finally, Aelita Stones, a 14 year old in 9th grade. But reports say she is a cousin of Odd. But files show she has no relations to him at all. And it also seems her record has been forged from an investigators recent report. So this mystery girl only adds more to the strange event that has happened today." The reporter said going over the gang's identity.

()()()()()()()

"Great! Now the whole world knows about our kids, and this mystery girl Aelita. What are our kids doing, forging fake records for her?" Mr. Stern said.

"Do you think she has anything to do with this?" Odds mother asked.

"Why not, after what happened today I don't know what to think anymore" Yumi's father said confused as well.

"Hey look, somethings happening with the signal." Jim said pointing to the screen, and sure enough the next scene that's about to take place, will show the world what is the fate of the gang.

()()()()()()()()

"We now go live to the UN and... wait what's happening?" She said with her finger to her earpiece, and as she continued in an alarmed state. "Ladies and gentlemen, a strange signal, from what seems to be coming out of nowhere is hacking into all satellite signals, and is transmitting an image between all television channel signals and any place where there is a television signal, like Time Squares in New York as well-" But she never finished as their channel changed.

()()()()()()()()

"My god is that, it can't be?" Delmas said looking at the image. And the gangs parents watched, with looks of shock on their faces.

()()()()()()()()

"Look it's them, it's the guys!" Emily said, watching the screen in the students lounge along with the other students who sat there in shock of what they, and the world was seeing.

()()()()()()()()()()

Day 1:

The beam of light shined bright, as it landed still too bright to fully make out where they were. The light touched down in what seemed to be a heavily forested area as the light landed. It's diameter was very large as it wavered on the ground for a minute before it slowly shrunk down smaller and smaller before it was completely gone. It headed back up into the clouds before dispersing away for good, leaving the gang lying on the ground of the thick forest. A few minutes passed before the gang regained conciseness. As they slowly got up confused and disoriented to what has happened.

"Uhhgghh! what happened?" Ulrich said, rubbing his head.

"Why are we in a forest?" Yumi, said as well

"This can't be Lyoko." Jeremie said, looking at the surrounding.

"Yeah, you're here with us for once." William said, trying to make light of the situation.

"Is this supposed to be Xana's attack on us?" Aelita said confused.

"Where am I? How did we get here? And where did those clothes your all wearing came from? Where... where did these clothes on me come from? Odd what's going on?" Sam said turning to him. "Oh my god, Odd what happened to you?" Sam said pointing to him.

"What? Is there something on my face?" Odd said, unaware of his change.

"Uh... you can kind of say that Odd." Ulrich replied, looking at Odd in surprise.

"What, what's happened to me?" Odd said, looking at his hands and his body as well. His body was completely transformed as was the gangs clothes were changed too. They were similar to their Lyoko outfits but different as well, now as for Odd, he looked like his cat-man attire but it was his natural body that was changed too.

His hands and arms weren't as large when he was in Lyoko, instead they were normal sized and instead of four fingers, he had all five fingers each, and instead of a sleeve like look, he had purple stripes up his arms without that cat face on the top of his arms. And instead of having both human ears on the side of his head and cat ears on the top in his version 2 outfit, **(A/N: which didn't make much sense in the first place)** the ears were pointed and a little striped where his ears are normally in human form. He had purple stripes where they usually are on his face, and purple stripes going down his back and a few down his chest, and the sides of his legs, his fingernails were pointed and can retract like a cat as well as his toenails. And his tail remand unchanged.

His Suit however was different. He wore a dark purple heavy jacket with loose sleeves that had straps on the sleeve ends to tighten or loosen the sleeves. He had a light purple and pink undershirt that didn't have a peeing kiwi in the middle and he had a light leather body armor under the shirt and two metal shoulder disks on, but without kiwi's or a cat image on it. His pants were almost like his old version accept purple on the outer sides and light purple on the inseams as well as those dull yellow knee-guards and had almost knee-high boots that were on the inside of his pants that were blackish-purple.

"Odd, you sure look different." Yumi said, pointing out the obvious.

"Oh really? I didn't notice." Odd said back in a sarcastic tone.

"Hey Odd, look you have a bow and quiver set too." Ulrich said.

And sure enough Odds laser-arrow was changed to a bow set. His bow was large and curved at where the bow strings ends were, but not cumbersome. It was dark purple at the ends, but light purple near the arrow rest and on the inner side as well, and he had a quiver full of at least thirty arrows. "Wow, cool!" He said flicking the bow string with his pointed finger that lied across his chest. "But what is this?" He said raising his arms, showing large, metal gray gauntlets on each of his arms, covered by his jacket sleeves.

"Be careful Odd, you don't know what that is." Jeremie said raising his hand in caution.

"Einstein, chill out, it can't be that dangerous." Odd said raising his right arm, bringing the side of his fist closer to analysis it, just inches from his nose as if he was looking at a watch. "I wonder what it is?" Odd continued.

_SHING!_

"WHOA!" Both him and the gang yelled as four long metal claws that were curved downward at the tips, sprang out from his gauntlets. The blades have sprung out almost nicking the tip of his nose.

"Wow, this is so cool. I'm like Wolverine!" Odd said bringing his other arm up and unsheathing the other blades as well, swinging them around.

"Odd be careful, you only just almost cut off your nose there." Ulrich said annoyed by Odds playful foolishness.

"Hey Ulrich, your sporting new duds yourself." Odd said. And sure enough Ulrich's outfit was changed too.

Ulrichs suit was no longer a one piece suit. It looked mostly like his version 2 outfit, but with a few key differences. First he had sheaths for his swords that were the same accept they were a bit longer. He had a belt that look liked he can attach pouches too, his upper shirt was a zip-up style which had sleeves and was all a bit thicker like armor but also more looser, and he had larger arm guards as well and full hand gloves and his pants to were more padded and his boots as well. But his headband was a little longer and the symbol was slightly altered too.

"Strange, my outfits the same but a bit different too, I kinda like it." Ulrich said checking out the new wears.

"I'll say, bet it doesn't ride up on you?" Yumi asked.

"Well your outfit went through some changes as well." Ulrich replied back.

Yumi's outfit was a cross between her old and new outfits. First the top part was a kimono style which was long in the back but the front stopped at her waist and the colors were two sided, one dark purple like her old on the right and dark red on the left, she had the yellow silk sash tied around her waist and her pants were the same color as the top part in her version 2 outfit, but her boots were almost black colored and a little higher, and she had dark pink shoulder pads as well but she didn't have those tiny pill shaped bars that were over her eyes and her hair was down.

"I gotta say, I like the change." She said pulling out two of her fan-blades from there hidden compartment under her sash.

"Hey Yumi I think you also have more fan blades." Ulrich said pointing to her back. And as he said, she had six more fan-blades making in total eight.

"Yumi, you have some kind of short sword too." Odd chimed in. She had a short katana blade strapped on her back under the sash.

"Neat, this could come in handy." She said pulling it out of her sheath to examine it. "But what is this?" She said pulling out a fan like item from a sheath strapped to her back. It was at least twice the length of her fan blades and was much larger and curved at the end. "What could this be?" She said. And as she said that, she opened it up, to reveal it was a folding shield. "A folding shield, this is pretty cool too." Yumi said, holding it in her left hand with her short sword in the other.

"Looks like you upped your gear." William said .

"And your suit has changed too, William." Yumi replied back.

And just like the rest, his suit was changed as well. His suit was mostly the same but the gray left side was a tad darker and went all the way down his arm with removable gloves, and his white right side was the same, but the entire right arm was armored as if to better protect his sword arm. His belt was still red but with a large buckle, and his pants were the same and his boots were more larger. His sword was still the same butcher-blade style but with a larger hilt and guard now and he had a sheath on his back that only holds it by the blades hilt. "Wow, cool, I like that I have a sheath for my blade now." He said taking a few practice swings with his amazingly light blade.

"Well there's not much change to me. In fact I'm back to basics." Aelita said, for her outfit was her original version, with the pink lines under her eyes, and that red gem earring on her left ear, but her ears were not pointed like an elf.

"Well I've had a bit of a change with my clothes." Jeremie said, for he was wearing a dark turquoise colored jacket, with darker brown pants. "Well I suppose its fashionable." Jeremie shrugged.

"Well I guess I might as well show off what I got too." Sam said to them.

Sam was wearing a dark armored top with a few more red lines on her front. The sleeves ran down to her elbows that had pads that were a lot like skating pads and long gloves with holes on the knuckles that ran up almost to her pads. Her belly was no longer exposed, her skirt was a bit longer and now leather padded with thicker strips going down round her waist, with metal studs going down each of the thicker strips. It was still red in color but the thicker strips were a darker red.

Her weapons consisted of two Tonfas but not some standard police ones. They were heavy, but well designed and were made of wood and metal and had loops at the waist for them. And on the back part, she had metal ones that were bladed instead, but weren't sharp where her arms would rest against. **(A/N: The weapons are like the ones used by the clockwork guy in the first Hellboy movie.)**

"Neat Sam, looks like you came armed as well." Odd said trying to get her a little more calm to what has happened.

"I guess they are pretty cool." Sam said pulling them out, performing a few moves with Odd lost in staring at the motions she made.

"Odd, Odd, Odd!" Ulrich said, snapping his fingers in Odds face.

"Wh-what, what, what is it?" Odd said coming back to reality.

"So now that we established are fashion statements. Lets figure out where we are already." Yumi said walking around a little in a circle.

"Where would we even begin to look?" William said.

"I guess we should start walking out of this forest for starters." Ulrich added.

"So which way should we walk?" Odd said looking around the massive woods. Unsure of where they should go.

Unknown to the gang, deep in the woods with them, strange figures lurking in the shadows of the more darker parts of the woods watching them, waiting to strike. Slowly closing in on them as they came closer and closer, waiting with anticipation of cruel desires. For these figures are here to slaughter them all.

**END CHAPTER.**


	3. A NEW HERO

**CHAPTER 3: A NEW HERO**

As the figures got closer, the gang still unaware of their immediate danger, they still continued to debate on their course of action.

"So what is the plan after we get out of the woods? We can't just walk around like this, especially me!"

Odd said referring to his cat-man state.

"Well maybe we might find where we are at least." Yumi said to him.

"But that doesn't change what's happened to us, or why where even in these clothes?" Ulrich said.

"If this is Xana's idea for getting rid of us. Then why would he let us be armed?" William said as well

"What if this isn't Xana's doing? what if somebody else did this?" Aelita added.

"Okay, first of all, who is this Xana, and Lyoko, and how did you guys get involved in this fight in the first place?" Sam asked trying to get to the bottom of this situation.

"Well Sam it's a bit of a long story, but we will fill you in on the way out of these woods." Jeremie said to her in hopes of getting her calmed.

As Jeremie continued to tell Sam on what's going on, one of the masked figures was just behind a tree only a few feet away from them. But as he started to move again he made a slight error in his steps.

_SNAP_!

As the sound of a tree branch breaking under the figures foot reached Odds ear that flicked in alert he cried out to his friends. "Guys there's someone here with us!" Odd alerted them.

"Odd, clam down, we're all a little shaken up, but there's no one here with us in the middle of the woods." William said trying to get him to calm down.

"Then who's that?" Ulrich said pointing to the figure poking his head around the tree not far from them.

The figure walked out from behind the tree. They could tell it was a man by the figure. He wore all black and had two long knives at his side, his head was covered by a hoodie and wore a black mask with eye holes that had a visor like cover over it and slits where the mouth is, and around the eyes and mouth was red marks that looked like a blaze of fire.

"It looks like it's just one, we can handle him." Odd said readying his weapons. And as if on cue more assassins dropped in, from the tree branches, from out of the shadows, and from deeper in the woods.

"You just had to say that didn't you Odd?!" Ulrich said angrily at Odd while drawing his sabers.

"Hey, at least I didn't say, him and what army." Odd jokingly replied.

"Don't make this worse Odd!" Yumi added in.

The assassins closed in on them, they were carrying various weapons. From swords, to knives, to small axes, and spears, and as well as throwing weapons and so on. In all there was at least sixteen of them whispering threats and forms of attack on the gang.

"_Kill them." "Slaughter them." "Take them down." "We will have their lives." "Take the pink haired one." "They are weak." "We will be victorious." "They are no match for our skills." "Die, Die, Die!" "You are all doomed!" "You're lives will be forfeit." "We are your end." "This will be your last day."_

The assassins were ready to attack, and the gang was ready to fight back.

"Aelita, Jeremie stay behind us, we will take care of them." Yumi said readying her fans.

"But there's too many of them." Jeremie said.

"No problem, we've handled more then this before." Odd said trying to make light of the battle coming.

"Odd... not to break your confidence, but I seriously don't think we're in Lyoko anymore!" Jeremie said back.

"Let's get this going." Ulrich said, his sabers at the ready. The assassins charged them, and the gang readied for their attack. Ulrich took the charge and countered the first assassins long knives, putting them in a deadlock with their blades.

Odd went after one that had a sickle weapon, taking wild swings. "Hey Odd, your just swinging blindly at him, you know?" Ulrich said to him, still in deadlock holding the assassin at bay.

"Take it easy, I've never used claws before you know." Odd replied back still fighting his assassin.

Yumi was handling two assassins that both wielded throwing ring blades, one threw both of her's while the next one charged at her, but thanks to her athletic skills, she dodge the blades then countered the one charging at her by putting all her wight into doing a flip kick right into the assassin charging at her right into his chest, sending him flying back dropping his weapons.

"Nice try guys." But Yumi's victory was short lived as another kicked her in the back from behind. She fell to the ground, and the assassin that kicked her tried to finish her off by stabbing his spear at her, but thankfully Yumi kept rolling to avoid his spear.

"Yumi hold on, I'm coming!" Ulrich shouted, kicking the assassin away from him and running to help her. But another assassin jumped in with a longsword taking swings at Ulrich, keeping him away, but all Ulrich could think of is Yumi's safety, unable to reach her.

The assassin finally stopped Yumi by slamming his foot onto her chest, readying his spear a look of victory in his masked eyes. As the assassin readied his spear for the final thrust suddenly.

_CRACK!_

The assassin fell to the ground dazed from Sam striking him from behind his head. "Here, take my hand." Sam said reaching her hand to Yumi.

Yumi took her hand with a new found acceptance of Sam joining the group. "Thanks Sam, I owe you." Yumi said to her, back on her feet. But the assassin was back on his feet as well, ready to get back at Sam. As two more assassins got side by side with the assassin with the spear, one with a mace and and another with a hatchet, leaving Sam and Yumi ready for round two.

William was not exactly doing so good either, he had five assassins surrounding him, all with different weapons, one with a short-sword tried to attack him from behind but he swung at him in time, but the assassin jumped away, leaving William open to another attack from one with a tonfa attacked him, but William elbowed him in the neck just in time, only to have another catch his sword arm with a chain weapon, pulling him down, dropping his sword which impaled into the ground. The assassin was pulling him closer to him, his curved blade at the ready to finish William. But William was stronger then they thought as William rolled back onto his feet and knee pulling the assassin down then grabbing his sword and giving the two last assassins the back of his blade sending them both to the ground. William was proud of his victory but it was short lived as four more came in leaving William groaning at the next round. "This can't get any worse." William said to himself.

Jeremie and Aelita were alone, the gang got separated from them, leaving them completely alone.

"Aelita, just stay close to me." Jeremie said keeping his arm outstretched in front of Aelita. He felt so ashamed that he couldn't fight, that he couldn't protect her like the others. But his track of thought was broken when a large assassin came out from behind a tree, he wielded a huge broadsword and he had a cold look in his masked eyes. He raised his sword high above his head.

"Aelita run now!" Jeremie said, pushing her aside as the assassin brought his sword down on him. Jeremie fell back just outside his reach. Either the assassin was slow, or playing with Jeremie since the assassin was defiantly taking his time as a small chuckle came from his throat while he took swings at Jeremie. He crawled away backwards from the assassin that walked slowly at him, waiting for Jeremie to slip up and leave him open for the assassins broadsword.

"Jeremie, no!" Aelita shouted, but an assassin jumped from behind her and grabbed her, pulling her to his body, he had his left arm over her front body and holding her close to him. He then brought a dagger up to her face against her cheek.

"_It's a shame you have to die, if I could, I would keep you alive and all to myself." _The young assassin said in a quiet hissing tone.

"Why are you doing this to us?" Aelita asked in a frightened tone trying not to anger the assassin that held her life in his hand.

"_We are __The Dark Creed__, and we are the assassins that live for the thrill of the battle."_ The young assassin replied slowly dragging his dagger down her cheek without cutting her and to her throat, turning the blades sharp side to it.

"Wait, who sent you after us?" Aelita pleaded trying to buy her some time.

"_We don't know, our master was hired to send us to this place and time and on who our targets were. We thought this was an insult but the money was too great, so we knew this was no fools errand, so now your all here and that's all that matters, so now I'm afraid you must die!" _The assassin said readying his dagger to slit her throat.

"Aelita! Please don't kill her!" Jeremie called, tears falling from his eyes as he was still crawling away from the large assassin.

"We can't win." William said to himself, holding an assassin in a headlock with one arm while fending off the others by swinging his blade at them, and missing them all.

"I guess we're done for." Odd said as another assassin with a club came after him while he was still fighting the same assassin with the sickle.

"Well for what it's worth Sam, I'm glad you joined us." Yumi said while they were in a stance ready for the assassins with the spear ,mace, and hatchet, and three more joined in as well.

"I know we just met but I'm glad we're friends, even if it was for a short time, thank you." Sam replied back with a smile as they got ready for the next assault.

As for Ulrich, three more with swords joined. He was not doing well either as their attacks were relentless. Ulrich was doing what he can just to defend from their attacks. He stumbled back further from them, tired and worn from the battle from the first assassin and the three more that jumped in. Ulrich felt that this was the end.

"Mom, Dad, good-bye, I-I love you. And Yumi, I-" But Ulrich never finished quietly talking to himself as the first assassin once again came after Ulrich putting them both in deadlock again but Ulrich was finally losing his ground. The end was near.

()()()()()()()()()

On Earth the world watched in quiet desperation. At the school the students watched as their classmates were going to be killed in front of them. Some were crying, some were praying, some were cheering them on as if the gang would hear them but all in vain. The teachers and other faculty watched as they too were overwhelmed by what has happened in the last few hours.

And in the teachers lounge, the parents of the gang watched as tears fell freely from their eyes over the fact that they will never even get to say good-bye to their children. The husbands held their wives as they watched and cried as their children fought and that they knew they could do nothing but watch and feel their hearts sink and swell with pain and loss.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back at the battle.

"_It's over, accept death and it will be done soon."_ The young assassin said as he held his dagger to her throat ready for the killing blow.

"I can't believe it ends here." Was all Aelita could say to herself. As the cold blade of the dagger was pressed to her throat, the end seemed near but then a voice roared out.

"FOR SPARDARACTA!"

A booming voice was heard. Everyone on the battle field froze and stopped as the call rang out, on Earth the people too were shocked by this battle cry.

From an edge in the clearing of the woods the gang and the assassins were in, a large figure jumped out and landed not far from them all. Aelita took this opportunity and freed herself from the assassin and Jeremie got up and ran from the large assassin, the whole gang regrouped and were stun by the new being that landed after jumping from the small cliff with a loud thud.

They could not believe their eyes, they were staring at a new being. He was obviously a male just by looking at him, he was covered with muscles. His pecks were large, his abs were solid, and his arms were bigger then most people could hope to achieve.

He looked very humanoid, accept his skin was very dark blue, he was at least a foot taller then the gang, and his face looked very much like a human accept his nose from the front looked flat, his eyes were just a tiny bit larger then a humans but not bugged-eyed either and they were dark blue in color, his ears were small, almost hole-like and were hard to see when looking at him from the front of his face. He had no hair on his eyebrows or his head, either he's naturally bald or he shaves his head, and as for the shape of his head, it almost seemed skull-like, just very thin features and a large slender jawline and his hands were human like accept the fingers were pointed, and his body even had a few faded old scars.

As for his wears, he was completely topless, thus showing his muscular mass, but he had a thick leather strap that started at his belt on his front left side that went up over his right shoulder and down his back to his left back side but it had a metal shoulder pad on the right. And from that long strap, another strap went from the front under his right arm and connect to the back and another that went under his left arm and from that another strap went over his left shoulder, and to the back and another at his lower stomach that connected to the main strap and went all the way around and connected to the big strap and they looked like they could have pouches and other stuff hooked to the straps. His pants were black and worn-out and baggy, and his big boots were dark leather and heavy, and had metal studs, and as for his weapon.

It was a large, wide, double bladed battle ax. The top parts was rounded but then in the middle of the ax blade became straight and pointed at the ends, it was made to catch and disarm opponents weapons. On the top part of the ax had a long spike in the curve of the axes top part, and the ax had many decorative grooves and inlets and the handle was well made for wielding it like a sword handle near the end.

"So what do we have here?" He said holding his ax over his shoulder with one hand, slowly tapping the shaft part against his shoulder. "Well I'll tell you what we have. A bunch of assassins outnumbering some honorable warriors. Too bad for you assassins, the odds are no longer in your favor." He said readying his weapon.

"_Who is he?" "What is he doing here?" "He's not one of our targets" "Why is he here with us?"_

"_Enough, we will deal with the interloper first, they are too tired to run. First we kill him, then we will finish the rest."_ The assassin that was about to kill Aelita said, and with that, the assassins slowly walked toward him with their weapons at the ready.

"So you fools want to deal with me?" He said unaware that one was closing in on him from behind. "Well then come on!" He yelled catching the assassin by the collar that tried to jump him from behind. He picked him up with his left arm without effort and threw him at the two nearest assassins from him and then charged and tackled down a number of assassins to the ground. "You guys are starting to bore me." He said mocked to them. All the other assassins surrounded him and charged. They all pounced and landed on him trying to hold him down to deliver a killing blow but...

"Raawwhh!" He roared from under them, and in one motion threw them all of him. They fell off him and hit the ground hard. As he got back on his feet he pulled the one still holding him off his back and tossed him, then he grabbed another one and slugged him with his free fist, then punched another one to the ground.

He swung his ax with incredible speed keeping them at bay, but then as he readied his ax for another swing, the assassin with the chain tossed his chain and ensnared both his hands together and made him drop his ax. As the assassin seemed happy of his new catch and tried to pull the stranger to him. But the gangs saver didn't even budged at the assassins pull, instead he pulled the assassin down then whipped the chain to wrap around the assassins throat then started to pull him till the assassin was being spun off the ground, around and around the assassin spinned.

"Enjoy your flight pal." He said, and with that he slammed the assassin into a bunch of others that were closing in on him.

The assassins were done playing around, they were in full attack mode but still unmatched for him as they all tried to attack but being floored by the strong warrior. He punched away another one then threw another into a small group of them, then kneed one in the stomach and then hand-chopped him to the ground, then wrapped his arms around another assassin and flipped him over into another one, then grabbed one by the back of his head and headbutted him right in his masked face, breaking his nose and face while badly cracking his mask as they could tell from the blood pouring out of the mouth slits.

Finally the big one with the large sword stepped in. "So, you wanna have it just be you and me?" The warrior said in his gruff, deep tone as he grabbed his ax holding it in a ready swing as did the assassin with his broadsword. They slowly circled each other, the gang watching in wonder of their savior. The warrior and the large assassin were finally close to each other and raised they're weapons to they're sides and swung at the same time.

CLASH!

The assassins sword was broke in half. The assassin stood there in shock at his broken sword then looked at the warrior, ready for another go, but the assassin turn and ran still holding his shattered sword.

"_Retreat! retreat now!"_ The assassin with the dagger shouted and they ran away as ordered. Some had to carry or drag away their comrades and as for the one the warrior headbutted, two assassins put his arms over their shoulders and carried him off. They all retreated into the shadow of the woods disappearing from the gang and the new warriors sights.

"Yeah that right you cowards run, not so fun when it's the other way around is it?" The warrior shouted as he put his ax back in it's sheath strapped to his back.

The gang slowly walked up to him to thank their savior, he looked over to them with friendly eyes as if they were long time friends that they haven't seen in a long time. Aelita was the first to talk to him. "We are so grateful to you for saving us, who are you?" She asked in a soft tone.

"It was no problem. My name Aracane Venlomus. And who ever you guys are, it's nice to meet you all." He said to them.

The gang now knew there was something far greater to this then they could have ever known. And soon all their questions will be answered.

**END CHAPTER. **


	4. ANSWERS TO THE JOURNEY

**CHAPTER 4: ANSWERS TO THE JOURNEY**

The large warrior know as Aracane stood there, stretching his arms after such a warmup of a fight. "So what brings you guys out here anyway?" Aracane asked.

The gang stood there unable to come up with an answer, after all so much has happened and they don't know how to respond until Aelita decided to speak up. "To be honest, we're not sure how we got here ourselves." She said, still bewildered of this new life-form that they are speaking too.

"Well who are you? what are your names then?" He asked in response.

"Oh, well I'm Aelita."

"I'm Ulrich."

"Umm, Jeremie."

"William." He waved to him.

"Yumi."

"My names Sam."

"And I'm Odd, the most handsome."

They all said one at a time to the warrior Aracane who seemed unfamiliar with those kind of names. "So you all don't know how you got here? Why were those assassins were after you then?" Aracane responded.

"I guess we should start from the beginning then, although it's a long story." Aelita said to him.

"That's okay, I've got a small camp not far from here. We will go there and discuss thing's over by the fire." Aracane said in a cheery tone.

"You don't seem surprised to see people like us?" Odd asked.

"Well of course not, there's humans and Cataranions, and other species all around the place." Aracane said in a confused tone.

"I'm a Cata- what?" Odd said, surprised by what Aracane has told them.

"Yes, a Cataranion. Did those assassins hit you on the head or something?" Aracane said, tapping his finger on his head to signify Odd's confusion. "Man this day get weirder and weirder, first that bright light in the sky, then you guys who are acting like your from another planet or something." Aracane said crossing his arms.

"Wait, you saw the light from the sky? We we're... well we we're in it." Aelita said hesitantly to him.

"You... were in it?" He responded almost not believing her story. "Hmm... Well no point in standing here. Lets get back to my camp and you guys can tell me everything there." He said changing the subject of their conversation.

He started heading to his camp and the gang just shrugged and started following him, but William stood there still taking in his surrounding.

"William, you coming or what?" Ulrich said to him.

"I had a thought about this." William said back.

"What's that?" Ulrich asked.

"It's just that... I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I don't think we're anywhere near our home." William responded to his question.

"Just so you know, I have the same feeling too, but like you said, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Ulrich said and started walking with William not far behind from the rest.

The forest was although not too thick. It's top canape of leaves was heavy, blocking out a great deal of light on the ground but with only a few openings that let light fill it up enough to see without having to struggle on where their going.

"This forest is huge, how long have you been here?" Aelita asked.

"About a week or so. I don't know why, but when I was passing by, I felt as if I needed to be here, to stay close." Aracane said looking around the forest that he had been hanging around in.

"You live on your own? How old are you?" Jeremie asks.

"Me? I'm only 15, but being on my own at this age is part of my Spardarac training." Aracane said to the surprised gang about his age.

"Your what?" Jeremie asks.

"My Spardarac training. My family comes from a long line of spardarac warriors from Spardaracta. We are one of the strongest cultures of the Arachun species, which is what I am since you guys still seem confused." Aracane said turning to them so they know what he is.

"And where is your land?" Sam asked, intrigued by this.

"Well like I said. I've been away from my home for over three years now." Aracane said.

"What is Spardaracta like anyway?" Jeremie asks intrigued as well.

"My home land is a modern land like most parts of the world, but I was born in the more 'rural' areas, and trust me there's a lot of those." Aracane answered their many questions.

"Rural areas? what do you mean by that?" Jeremie asks.

"Well despite the fact that the world is modern, a lot of people and lands still live like there in century's past, more or less. The area I came from is not far from the main city of Spardaracta, but we live there in a more traditional manner. We live by are ancestors ways of life and traditions." Aracane replies going deeper in detail.

"But what about your parents? Do they know where you are?" Aelita asks him.

"My... parents are gone." He said in a sad tone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Aelita said sorrily.

"It's alright, you didn't know, there was a conflict not far from where I lived and they went there to fight. But they never came back. No one found them or nothing, it's like they disappeared and all I have left is my father's ax." Aracane said putting his fingers over the blade of his father's ax on his back, as if to make sure it's still there.

"What did you do then?" Ulrich asked him.

"When my parents were gone, I was only 9. My master and old friend of my father took me in to start my training. He taught me everything I know, even if some of his training was a little... unorthodox." Aracane said in a shaky tone.

"Like what?" Odd asks curiously.

"Well do you consider, waiting for you to wake up while holding an ax over you so he can chase you around for a 'warm up' as unorthodox?" Aracane asked the group.

The group was stunned. "Yeah I can tell you guys a ton of things on how my master trained me, but I didn't complain because one day my master will dub me a full Spardarac." He said with pride.

"Your not a full one yet?" Odd asked him.

"No I'm not, my master will present me my armor and then I will be a true Spardarac, which is weird because my master makes it sound like he's gonna just pop up out of nowhere. But then again my master is a bit of a strange one." He said raising his hands.

"So that's why you go around without any upper protection on?" Jeremie said.

"It is to get used to the pain of combat, we must treat our bodies like armor, so we don't come to completely rely on our armor. We live and fight for the honor of our home and our brothers and sisters in arms. But enough about me, where are you guys from?" He asks wanting to know them better.

"Oh... ah... we are from a land called France." Aelita said, hoping he won't ask much about it.

"Ffrrannnccee?" He said trying to pronounce this new word. "I never heard of a land like that. Is it far from here?" Aracane asked.

"Umm, you can say that." Aelita said to him. But then Yumi walked in closer to say.

"Guys listen, I know we're all thinking the same thing. We must be on another world or something, so lets not go to deep into details because we might freak him out, and I don't want him coming at us and swinging that ax of his." Yumi said in a quite voice to them.

"You really think we're on an alien planet?" Odd asks them.

"Odd, we're the aliens here. Do you even know the very definition of the word alien? and I'm not talking about another of your cheesy sci-fi movies." Jeremie said to Odd.

"Hey some of those movies I've watched could be very informative about what we should do." Odd said trying to defend his movies.

"Really? Which one was the one that people like us get transported to possibly another world Odd?" Jeremie asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmmfgh." Was all Odd could reply as he crossed his armms.

"Hey guys, we're almost near my camp, I can smell my wild boar cooking right now." Aracane calls out to them.

"Wild... boar?" Sam asks him.

"Yeah, the bastard gave me quite a fight, but I managed to put him down. He was a big boy, so there's plenty to eat if you want some." Aracane offered to them.

Not long after that the gang and their new friend walked into a small clearing where sure enough, a small make shift tent made out of branches and other stuff from the forest. And not far was a large fire with a wild boar skewered over the fire.

"Wow that boars huge!" Odd said. "I'm actually starting to get hungry." He said rubbing his stomach.

"It would be weird if you weren't Odd." Ulrich said passing him.

"Well we don't know when's the last time we ate." Odd replied with his arms in the air in frustration.

"So anyway, take any chunk you want. All you have to do is grab a piece and pull." He said while ripping the back leg off the boar and taking a big bite. "Mmm it's cooked just right." Aracane said to them.

"Well I'm sold." Odd said going up to the boar and taking some meat off the back of the skinned boar. "Any of you guys want some too?" Odd asked, ready to rip another chunk for them.

"I'm... good for now." Yumi said with her hands raised in protest.

"Uhh, I don't like pig anyway." William said, obviously a lie.

"Suit yourself, but come on and sit down by the fire." Aracane suggested to the rest. So the gang sat down at the fire with him. Aracane and Odd eating some boar until Ulrich caved in and took a piece, then finally Yumi, and even Williams appetite caught up with his as well. Last but not least, Sam took a piece and even got some for Jeremie and Aelita who both asked her. The whole gang ate they're fill, some more then the others. After the boar was almost bones on a spite.

"So Aracane did you have any friends back home?" Ulrich asked him.

"No, not really, my master kept me busy with my training." He said in response. "Well... there was someone that I knew, she... well I... Anyway do you guys have any place to go?" Aracane said changing the subject quickly.

"To be honest, no. We are completely lost and we don't even know where we are, I just wish we could get some answers." Yumi said her voice heavy with sadness.

"Then I will provide you all with answers." Everyone sprang up, their weapons at the ready to this mysterious voice that came out of nowhere.

"Who said that? show yourself now!" Aracane said his ax already drawn.

"My apologizes, I didn't mean to startle you all. But trust me, I mean you no harm." The voice said to them all. And with that, a bright orb of light shined not far from them, and when the light dissipate a figure stood there in a kneeling position, his head low as he held a staff in his right hand holding for support.

He arose slowly for the gang to get a full look of him. His face was very human like, but was light gray. He wore a headdress that was also was a helmet that had strips of plate rivets on the back going down his neck and with a crescent like shape at the top of the brow with another slip going back.

His armor had an ethereal shimmer to it, as it was gold plated with black and green grooves all over on the chest, arms, and legs. His cape also had a shimmer that seemed to move at his will, it was dark red in color. He had a staff in his right hand and on the top, it seemed like a flailed mace like design with a large orb in the center, and he had a long katana like sword at his left hip.

"Who, or what are you? Whats your name?" Ulrich asked the strange being.

"I go by many names. I have names almost as old as the cosmos itself. I have names that only the suns, stars, and moons can pronounce. And I have been waiting for you all for a very long time." The mysterious being replied.

"So then what do we call you? And what do you mean you been waiting for us?" Odd added to the strange being.

"Let's have a seat and I will tell you everything." He said in a kind and wise voice. They all sat back down, but before he sat down with them, he drove his staff into the ground next to him. "Now that we are all settled, I suppose I should start from the beginning. For starters I should at least give you my name." He said to them.

"But you said you have many names." William pointed out.

"True, but I will go by a name simply for you all. I will go by Guardian Warrior." He finally identified himself.

"Ooh! How about GW?" Odd said in a somewhat joking voice.

"That's fine by me, anyway-" GW tried to speak.

"Wait, not to be rude, but how can we trust you? We we're almost killed an hour ago, then this guy Aracane shows up, and now you?" Jeremie said pointing to Aracane then to GW.

"Hold on Jeremie, I know this is a lot for all of us but I feel like we can trust him" Yumi said defending him.

"Jeremie's concern is understandable, but you have nothing to fear. Now back to where I was. I come from another realm, we are beings that live on another plain of a higher existence, it is a realm where many amazing beings live." GW started.

"You mean you're... gods or something?" Aracane asks almost bewildered.

"Well that's one of the names you mortals of the mortal plains have called us, but yes we do have amazing powers, and we have come to both transcend and control time, space, and reality as well. And we have since almost the beginning of time, kept our realm from interfering with your realms development." GW continued.

"So then how are you here with us?" Aelita asks him.

"Almost everyone of us has a roll to our existence. I myself am the guardian of the gates that allow us to travel between our realm and the worlds of the cosmos, and I am here to serve as your guide to gather the rest of the warriors that will aide you" He explained.

"Rest of the warriors!?" They all said.

"Yes, for you see this was all foretold, the warriors from other worlds will join as one to destroy the evil that is Xana!" he said in a more serious tone at the name of Xana.

Xana? but we destroyed him. All of this is impossible. You from another realm, and Xana is still alive? How is he still alive, he was a computer virus." Jeremie went on almost rambling.

"Impossible? You were able to use a supercomputer to return to the past to undo Xana's attacks, and a virus that is capable of many forms of attack. From possessing people and objects, and to manipulating the environment and you question what's possible Jeremie? No my lad, nothing is impossible as long as you know how it works, trust me there are many wonders that even we have yet to see, and we have been around for a very long time." GW explained to Jeremie.

"So then what is Xana if he's not a virus?" Sam asks wanting to finally know.

"Of course, I'm afraid that although you warriors have fought long and hard and sacrificed so much to save Earth. But unfortunately the Xana you battled was nothing more then his shadow, his cruel hand reaching out, the real Xana is here and he has a body." GW continues.

"A body like a person?" Aelita asks.

"Xana has a physical form but it is not like flesh and blood or machine, instead it is somewhere in between. His body is made of completely new elements, but regardless of what form he has, Xana is a threat to any and all sentient beings, and his hunger to consume and control all is unquenchable, you should know that first hand" he said to the Earth born gang.

"But where are we anyway? And how did we get these weapons and clothes?" Yumi asks him.

"Xana thought he could destroy you here, he took you out from your world and put you here to finally destroy you. But thankfully we interfered with his plans to kill you all." GW smiled to them.

"You interfered, how?" Ulrich asked.

"Simple, we used our powers to bring out the warriors within you all, and that is why Odd is now a Cataranion because it is his true self, and also your new friend Aracane being here was the hand of fate that guided him to this place. Even Sam being here is no mere coincidence." GW said, looking at the newer members.

"Me? But I just followed them." Sam said shocked by GW's words.

"You were compelled to follow them, you are just a much of a part of this. You are just simply late to the party." GW chuckles at that last part. "But yes you are right, you are on another world that is just outside your galaxy. This world is called Earthera." He said as a hologram like image projected from the orb of his staff and displayed a image of this new world, the gang was amazed by the new planet they were looking at.

"This world, although slightly larger then Earth and has three moons. It is very similar to your home world in both climate, animals, dates, time, and even though there are rural areas, this worlds technology is quite a bit ahead of Earth in various ways. But unlike Earth,this world has a number of natural sentient species." GW continued to explain as images changed. and with that, the image changed to how the other life forms that live on Earthera looked like. In both male and female, and different looks based on what race each species came from.

"The Humans, as you can see are very much like you in race, color, and creed. Although they don't go by the names your races are called so you will have to claim your from their races, but that will be no problem, you will still be able to blend in." GW started as the images showed humans of different races that were very similar to the gang. Then the image changed again.

"Now the Arachuns, which is what your new friend is here." GW pointed to Aracane since the gang already met him knowing what the Arachuns look like.

"Haha! I'm the first new species you guys have ever seen." Aracane said in a victorious tone.

"Technically Odd is the first new species we've seen, Aracane." Aelita laughed a little.

"Now if I may continue." GW said with the image changing again. "The Cataranions, feline like people that look a lot like humans, but instead have a lot of feline features that are very similar to Earths felines." GW said as the hologram like images showed the many different types of the Cataranion people.

"Neat! I must come from the tiger variety." Odd said smiling.

"Yes you do come from the 'tiger' variety." GW said to Odd as the image changed again. "Now the next Species. The Lizardins, a lizard like species that although looks like humans too, they have long pointed fin-like ears, and a scaled pattern going down the back of their heads and spines, and have long lizard tails, and their head hair come in various colors.

"It's strange how they look a lot like humans, even if they are a reptile race." Jeremie comments at the images of the different species.

"Well evolution does what it does. Now then the next ones." GW said with the image changing again.

"Molknucs, a race with red skin, and a dull white color starting at the front of their necks going down their front chests and on the palms of their hands, and they have three small points on their knuckles, and their faces are a bit pointed but still very human like as well.

"They seem to be mole-like." Jeremie adds.

"Yes, that is the type of being they evolved from, like humans from apes and so on." GW informed.

"Now another one, the Aquamarins, a green skinned aquatic race with long slips of skin on their heads that they call dreads and their dreads come in various lengths and such. And when they submerge, they have gills that open up on their necks and shoulders and have fins that stretch out between their fingers and toes so they can swim underwater." GW Explained the last species shown on his orb image.

"There are so many, how many more are there?" Yumi asks him.

"Well there are some other types of beings as well, but I will let you find out what that they are. After all you have a whole new world to discover and to find the others warriors as well." GW says to them as the image faded away.

"And how are we suppose to do that? Look for them in a phone book or put an ad in the papers or online?" William said to him sarcastically.

"No William, with this." GW replied and pulled out an amulet from under his cape, it had a long golden necklace and the amulet was an arrow like shape with a small orb with twenty gems all around it. "This is the Amulet Of Destiny, it leads you to what you most desire." GW said holding it out to the gang with only six of the twenty gems glowing in various colors.

"Why are there six glowing?" Odd asks pointing at it.

"It is responding to you the Lyoko warriors, it has found you already and it will lead you to the others. Just follow the arrow in the center orb." GW says pointing to the orb.

"But the arrows pointing to Sam." Odd says again.

"That is because it has found her, she must hold it and swear to join your cause, only then the amulet will lead you to the next warrior." GW explained the amulet.

The gang looked at Sam and she had a look of many mixed feeling of this.

"Sam, listen, I know we don't have any right to force you to fight with us, and I know we kinda parted on a bad note. So whatever you decide I will understand." Odd said while taking the amulet from GW's hand and walking towards Sam. "Hey GW, are you sure she's one of the chosen warriors?" Odd asks turning to him.

"Yes, I'm afraid she is. I know we don't have any right to make you all risk your lives, but understand you are chosen by the hand of fate, and if you fail, all will be enslaved by Xana. I know this is a lot, but remember, fate doesn't call us at our choosing, it calls us when we are most needed. So Sam, it's up to you on whether _you _choose to help or not. But I will understand whatever your choice is and I will hold no ill will towards you my dear." GW informed her in a understanding voice.

Sam took the amulet from Odd and hold it in her hands. "Odd, like you said, we parted on a bad note, even though I didn't know the Earth was in danger back when we had that skating competition at your school." Sam said as she looked at the amulet closely.

"Well I guess I was a little hard on you about that too." Odd said rubbing the back of his head.

"But this is a lot to take in, but then again my family is on Earth, and if what you guys say is true about this Xana, and I can help stop him from taking over our world as well as this one. Then I must help." She said in a more confident tone. "Besides, many years from now, we can all tell people, we we're the first earthling to discover a new planet together." Sam continued in a cheery tone.

"Hey, maybe I can be the first Arachun to visit your planet as well." Aracane said interested in seeing Earth.

"So with that, I swear to join you guys in defeating Xana." Sam said holding the amulet. The amulet flashed and another gem lit up, signaling the discovery of the next warrior.

"Now that only leaves you, Aracane." Sam said holding the amulet to him.

"No problem there. I would love to teach this menace Xana a lesson." Aracane said and took the amulet and holds it up in one hand. "I swear to join your cause." and in saying that, another gem lit up and the arrow in the orb appeared and pointed to the north.

"You warriors are already onto a great start, I can see destiny is on your side and with that I now must part-ways for now." GW said to them getting up.

"Your not coming with us at all?" Ulrich asks him.

"No I can't, for starters I wouldn't fit into this world. Plus my presence in the mortal plains can only be allowed for so long before I start to become a disturbance to this realm. Also Xana has many bizarre powers, and if I stay to long he may sense me and alert you to him. Remember, Xana thinks you are dead. So for now use that to your advantage and gather the others, and then I will reveal more to you once you are all complete." GW said.

"A disturbance to this realm?" Jeremie questions.

"Yes, we have laws and restrictions on what we can and can't do in the mortal realm. It is for your protection because let's just say there have been others in my realm that have tried to take over your realm in long pasts. But Xana is your main target, so focus on him and we will keep watch over you warriors" GW said to them as he got ready to leave

"But what about our parents? They don't know where we are." Yumi said worried over her's and her friends parents.

"Your family is stronger then they know, they will hold on knowing in their hearts you will be all right, and when you return home, you will be heroes to all." GW said for even he and the others in his realm are unaware that the Earth is watching them and all that is happening now.

"I must take my leave now, but I will return as you find your new friends in this battle against Xana, so remember young warriors, the spirit of the warrior will always be with you all." GW smiled to them. A strong wind blew in and GW slowly faded away into nothing until he was gone. But they could still feel him near and they knew he will be watching over them guiding them on there journey.

"So guys, now that he's gone what are we gonna do about food?" Odd asked.

"For crying out loud! Is that all your worried about Odd?" Ulrich says to him annoyed.

"Hey it's a issue for us all, we don't have dorms to live in anymore, and if there people are all over the place, we might have to rough it out if you know what I mean." Odd said to Ulrich.

"Odds right, it looks like we will have to live outside most of the time. But don't worry I will teach you everything I know about outside survival just the way my master taught me, minus his way of teaching. And trust me, that's a bonus guys." Aracane says, remembering some of his masters crazy survival teachings not too fondly.

"But if we are gonna have to live outside, we need more then food, we need all kinds of supplies and medicine and other things." William adds in.

"Don't worry, if the lights pointing where I think it's pointing, there's a town not far from here. I was in it when I was passing by. It's kind of a rest-stop for travelers. We can find a lodge, then do some odd jobs for money and maybe we'll find the next warrior as well." Aracane says remembering the town.

"Well guys we got not a moment to loose, lets get there before it's dark and lets start fresh in the morning. Because this day has been exhausting in more ways then one." Ulrich chimes in.

"Yeah lets get some dinner as well." odd adds in.

"Odd, we just had a wild boar and your still hungry?" Jeremie says annoyed by Odd's appetite.

"Learning that your chosen by destiny can work up an appetite." Odd defended.

"Odd, sleeping in class makes you work up an appetite." Yumi adds in remembering Odd complaining about being hungry after sleeping in class once.

"Ha ha, you guys have a lot to tell me about your life on your planet to me and Sam I suppose too, right Sam?" Aracane says to them and Sam.

"Yes they do, I want to know all about it guys." Sam said wanting to know about their adventures against Xana.

"Then lets start going to the town, and we will tell you as much as we can" Aelita said as they started to leave the forest.

"Here Aelita, how about you start the chase of this next warrior." Aracane says giving her the amulet.

"Then off we go." Ulrich said as the gang began to head out. From out the woods and into the town, they're path set and their journey begun. They will face many trails and hardships along the way and Earth will be it's witness to the many challenges they face.

()()()()()()

Back on Earth.

"My god, another world and beings that live in another realm, I had no idea these kids were in so deep into something so dangerous." Delmas said shocked by everything he and their parents saw.

"So all we can do is wait and hope for the best." Ulrich's father said.

"I'm afraid so dear, it looks like that's all we can do." Ulrichs mother adds.

"Sir." another agent said popping into the room. "We we're checking their dorms and in the kid Jeremie's room we found his computer, maybe we can find some answers on it." The agent suggested.

"Very good then. We will find as much information we can and be discrete about it, look only for info on their battle with this Xana." The brown haired agent said.

"Also sir, we checked those two boys room and found this." The agent said bringing in a very familiar dog.

_bark,bark,bark_

"Kiwi!" both Odd's parents said coming to pick him up.

"Wait, you knew your son had a dog here? That's against the rules." Delmas said a little angry.

"Oh lighten up a little, you'll live longer." Odd's dad said in his usual laid-back tone.

"If you all are done, I must inform you of something from HQ." The brown haired agent said after removing his hand from his earpiece.

"What is it?" Jeremies father asked him.

"Do to the circumstances of this nature, the school if continued to be opened must be on lock-down till further notice." The agent started.

"Lock-down? That's absurd, why would you need to do that?" Delmas asked angrily.

"It is to save your school. If the parents of the students feel that this is somehow your fault then all the parents will take their children away and ruin this school, your life long dream Mr. Delmas. We have to get the world to calm down and have life go on as usual. And also why we must have the school on lock-down is because there's gonna be all kinds of crazies coming here asking questions to answers you don't have. So my agency will do what it take to assure the world that this school was not involved in anyway so we can save the reputation of this school and keep those people away from the school and students and so on." The main agent continued.

"But what about us? What are we supposed to do?" Yumi's father asked.

"That's simple, we will put you in protective custody until this is all over." The agent answered.

"Protective custody?" The parents said.

"Yes, we will move your family's nearby and we will have guards protecting you around the clock in case someone tries to harm you or take you hostage. Also we will fix things at your places of work so you can still make income and still have a career after this is all over. I know this is a lot, but your kids will be expecting you when they get back, so until then, your safety is my number one priority." The agent went on in a caring voice.

"If your going to be taking care of us, then you have to tell us who you are and what is your agency called anyway?" Yumi's mother asked.

"My agency doesn't belong to any nation or government, instead we operate internationally and help however we can, so on that note," He said removing his sunglasses to reveal his dark brown eyes that matched his short brown hair. "So for now you will know me as agent Louis, and I will make sure you are all safe."

**END CHAPTER.**


	5. DAGGERS AND CHAINS

**CHAPTER 5: DAGGERS AND CHAINS**

Aracane was now one of the group, and they too felt like he was one of them, as if finding a friend they haven't seen in ages, and they knew he would be a big help in understanding this new world that for a long time Earth has wondered if we are alone in the universe, well the gang has finally found out and that they were chosen by fate to destroy Xana for good.

As they made their way to the small town the gang told the basics for now of Lyoko and how they became friends and after they found their way out of the woods and onto a small dirt road that was big enough for cars to drive on.

"So this virtual world called Lyoko is where you fought Xana to stop his plans from taking over your world, and when you deactivated the towers you were able to travel back in time and everybody but you would forget?" Aracane said still listening to Jeremie go on about Lyoko.

"Well it's not that simple, you see the supercomputer is capable of storing energy to create a loop back into time because that undoes the effects Xana has done by the-"

"Jeremie, I am not big on computers okay, never really had it back in my home. Like I said, I lived in the more rural areas." Aracane said, interrupting Jeremies complected details of the supercomputers vast capability's and complex design.

"I'm just saying, it's not that simple." Jeremie said.

"Hey Aracane, don't worry too much about it, we don't get it much either. Only Jeremie and Aelita understand it best." Yumi called out to him.

"When you say rural areas, what do you mean by that anyway?" Ulrich asks.

"Well we aren't some primitive beasts in those places, we have running water and plumbing and power for our emergency phones and access to a hospital and a few cars." Aracane says remembering his home.

"How big is it anyway." Odd asks again.

"It's about as big as a large village with a few farm and live stock lands and we have a number of family clans living there that are from a long line of Spardarac warriors. But we do have a number of different species living there as well so like a few thousand people." Aracane answered him.

"If your lands a long way from here, then how did you get this far?" Yumi asks.

"I hopped on trains, hitched rides in cars and such, I mean walking will only get you so far."

"Aracane, I've been wondering, how can we go into town like this, wont people be worried of a bunch of teens walking in with a bunch of weapons on us?" William asks pointing out there predicament.

"No worries, there's tons of people walking around with weapons, they're called 'wondering warriors' and people in these areas are a little more open about warriors and their weapons, as long as we don't pull them out or threaten them, nobody will worry. Plus it's a good way to get hired if somebody needs us. You see, we're kinda like a cross between hands for hire, and warriors that are trying to leave a mark in history, and don't worry, nobody will notice much about our age either because there's a lot of orphans and refugees all over the place." Aracane said.

"Wait, refugees all over the place?" Jeremie asks.

"Yeah refugees, even though this world and it's nations and lands are at peace, there are still uprisings and other problems all over. From raiders and bandits, to people who have nothing to go back to after conflicts, or disputes have been stopped, or just sick people that want to destroy and pillage just for the hell of it, so these people attack small towns or villages because they're easy targets but they never dare attack city's or worse, capital nations where the world leaders or other very important people are and live. So stopping them is hard and getting to those places is just as difficult because these bandits don't attack when it's convenient for them they just do it whenever." Aracane said.

"But why are these leaders and such not doing anything about it?" Aelita asks surprised over how much trouble there is.

"They are doing something about it, but you got to realize there are so many of these places, and these raiders don't stay in one place very long anyway, but there are attack forces that are spearheading the operation, this problems only been around for a few decades and it will take some time for this to stop because there are so many different factions of raiders and bandits." Aracane went on.

"But how do you know so much about it if your in the rural areas?" Sam asks.

"We have television where I came from and stuff like that is always on the news, plus my master told me often about it. If there's one thing about my master, is he's had a shady past, he was born in Spardaracta, and he was in the Spardarac Soldier Force or the S.S.F and they fought with guns and other military stuff in case your wondering guys, and he was one of the most decorative soldier they had. He did over three-hundred missions and probably killed enough people to keep an undertaker busy for months." Aracane said remembering his masters tales.

"So why did your master leave and settled in your village then?" Ulrich said.

"Well he doesn't talk about that much, I guess he got tired of it and he did say he wanted to get back in touch with his roots. So instead of training people for the Spardarac Soldier Force, he went back to the way our ancestors trained Arachuns to be Spardarac warriors for the sake of tradition, because that's what the force was about, mixing our ancestors training within the modern army." Aracane said.

"Sounds like he's got a lot of ghosts haunting him." Ulrich said making a grim statement.

"My master said if your gonna live your life fighting, then prepare to shoulder their hate for you, and I've had to make that choice a few times myself." Aracane said in a dark tone.

"Wait, you've killed people before?!" Yumi said shocked.

"Yes, when your out here alone it makes you a target for trouble, and you guys may have to make that choice as well." Aracane said turning to them.

"But we never had killed anyone before, and we can't just do it at the drop of a hat either." Odd cried out.

"You may have no choice, you can't just go through this with out getting a little blood on you. Plus if someone is trying to take your life then you should fight back, because there are people who will kill you just for the hell of it." Aracane said back trying to telling them they're possible choices in the future.

"It's not that easy, we just killed digital monsters, even though we're on another planet we can't just go around killing people." William said.

"Uh listen, let's just drop it for now, look we're here." Aracane pointing to the towns sign.

The town was called RARGIS TOWN

The town was although not small, it wasn't massive it had a number of shops and restaurants and other goods and conveniences. A few cars were driving around, the gang was amazed by even though seemed familiar in designs like cars, vans, and trucks and so on but there make and model had a number of different names. The town was full of the different species GW showed them, just living along side and going on with their lives.

The town had a long paved main road that the gang was standing on the side of it, watching people and cars go by, so after the gang took a moment to compose themselves, after all they are seeing new people for the first time, and as open minded they are it was still a lot to take in.

Aracane sensing their discomfort gave them a bit of a nudge and said. "Don't worry, as long as we don't cause trouble, nobody will notice anything different of you."

"Then let's get this started." Ulrich said.

The gang started walking into the towns sidewalk near the main road of the town it stretched from where they were to all the way to the end which was at least over twenty miles it was defiantly the towns main street. As the gang walked into the town, it turn out what Aracane said, nobody really paid no heed or mind to the gang walking around armed.

"So Aelita, any indication on our next warrior?" Odd asked.

"Mmm no, the arrows kind of just pointing straight but it's also shaking around." Aelita said to him.

"How about we get something to eat first and look for a place to stay tonight? Aracane said.

"Do you have any money for a lodge?" William asked.

"I... no I don't, I'm broke, and lodge for so many people is a bit pricey as well." Aracane said defeated.

"Well then what are we supposed to do, sleep on the street?" Jeremie said.

"Okay lets calm down we can think of something." Yumi chimed in trying to get them be more positive.

"Even if we do find something, we still don't have anything to eat." Odd said sadly.

"We will think of something, it's not dark out yet, besides it's not like it will kill us to fend outside anyway." Aracane said frustrated.

"Well if it isn't the nice young man that saved me from a mugging, and it seems you've made some friends." A elderly voice called out. The gang turned to see an old Molknuc that was mostly bald with a few streaks of white hair, and wearing a dark gray jacket and dark slacks, and small glasses.

"Aracane, who is this and what does he mean by saved him?" Ulrich asked him.

"Oh yeah, how you been, its been over a week since I was here." Aracane said reflecting on his past deed.

"Yes it has, nice to see you again, what brings you back here?" the elder Molknuc asked.

"We're back here looking for supplies and some place to lodge for the night." Aracane replied.

"Well for saving my life, how about my wife and I put you up for the night, we do own a small lodge." The old Molknuc said happily.

"Are you sure, we're quiet a large group?" Aelita asked him.

"No problem, its the least I can do. I insist, now come along and by the way I am Insalu Tarrga." The man said.

The gang walked with him taken in by the mans generosity. "So Aracane, how did you save this man? You big hero." Sam asked playfully.

"Well, I was walking through town just passing by, and I heard some guy threatening someone down the alley so I went to look." Aracane started.

"I was cutting through to get home quickly because my wife needed her medicine, but then some thug tried to rob me of my money and medicine. I told him no this is for my wife, but he wouldn't leave me alone and he had a big knife and lets face it, I'm not as tough as I used to be." The old man Insalu said.

"So I came in and told him he better beat it because I said I got a big ax and I'm not afraid to use it." Aracane said fondly remembering that day.

"So anyway, this nice young man startled the mugger. He tried to attack him, but this big lad stopped him and picked him up with ease and threw him into a bunch of trash cans and rendered him unconscious, and after he helped me home, he told me his name and walked away, we didn't even get a chance to really thank him." Insalu said.

"Wow Aracane, you just walked off without even asking for anything in return?" Yumi asked.

"Well I'm not really the type to ask for rewards and such, but still I was just happy to help." Aracane replied.

"But now I can finally repay you in full dear boy." Insalu said to him.

The group walked a little deeper into town on the what some people call the 'motel side' where a great deal of people who need a place for the night and food could go. As they finally got to the old Molknuc's home**/**lodge, it was a nice little place, not to fancy, but it fit in with the wood work of the town and the name of it was on the sign above it called TARRGA'S REST. It had a very welcoming feel to it, as they got closer, a elderly Molknuc woman who was wearing a red flower shirt with green flower pants, she too had small glasses and had a few beads and such in her dull red hair and she had a very kind smile.

"My goodness dear, you have a bunch of warriors following you." she said jokingly.

"Serreasa Honey, don't you recognize this strapping young lad?" Insula said to his wife.

She looked closer to Aracane and remembered right away. "Well, well if it isn't nice young man that saved my husbands life. I'm so happy to see you again and it looks like you brought friends." Serreasa said to the gang.

"Well, I wouldn't say my life was in danger, but yes I was in trouble." Insalu said.

"So what brings you and these friends back into town?" She asked.

"I found him and his new friends in town, and they need a place tonight, so I think we should let him and his friends have a room for the night for saving me." Insalu said to her.

"I suppose that's fine, we have enough money, so we can spare some rooms, but food on the other hand might be different."

"You know we can work for our meals, I mean there is quiet a bit of us, so we can help around the place for our dinner." Aracane said to her.

"That can work, there is a bit to do, and we can only do so much in a day, so then let's go and we will see what we can have you all do." Serreasa said to the gang.

They all walked into the lodge, inside was a lot better looking inside, and it had a staircase going up into the owners place where their bedroom and living room and valuables, and so on. The lodge had a huge kitchen where Serreasa made they're guests meals, and not far from it was a long table where they served guests food. It also had large shower and bath area around the hall and on floor was three rooms that hold six guests and in another part of the lodge was six single rooms for only one person and each room had a window looking out into the town, the lodge was wedged between two other buildings, but it had a surprisingly large backyard where there was a small garden and a shack full of tools and gardening gear, and a cover where there was a large stack of chopped wood, and some uncut wood as well for they're basement wood burning heater. All in all it was a nice house.

"So this is the guests rooms, and upstairs is my husband and I's room which we have a rule, no one is allowed up there unless it's an emergency. We've had a few trouble makers in the past, so we had the door and frame heavily reinforced so no one can break in, but you young kids are no trouble at all, so dear what can we have them do?" Serreasa said after talking to the gang then to her husband.

"Well there's a lot of wood that still needs to be chopped, and I could use some help in the garden, also the basement needs to be cleaned too." Insula said thinking of the things that need to be done.

"Okay then, I know what each of us can do." Aelita said turning to her friends. "Aracane and Odd, you two can chop wood. Odd help place and stack the wood and Aracane can chop, and please don't chop Odd. William, Ulrich, you two can clean in the basement. Sam and Yumi can work in the garden and Jeremie and I can work in the kitchen if you need any help in there." Aelita said after giving everyone they're chores.

"I could use some help making and preparing meals for all of you tonight." Serreasa said happy of there help.

()()()()()()()()

And so the gang went to they're jobs, outside Odd and Aracane began their chore. "So Aracane, are you gonna use your ax to chop up this wood?" Odd asks.

"As if Odd, this ax has been in my family for decades, it would be an offense to use it like that unless it was an emergency. So just stack and set the wood and I'll chop, with my strength we could get this done in no time." Aracane replied to Odd's question of using his ax for wood chopping.

"Okay, okay big guy, so how do we do this?"Odd asked.

"You place and I chop, then you stack and we repeat over." Aracane said getting ready to chop.

"Just like that, no fancy slices or some form of amazing moves?" Odd asked.

"Keep it up Odd, and I might practice some deadly moves on you." Aracane replied annoyed.

The two began their routine and started stacking wood into the shed in no time at all while Yumi and Sam were in the garden gathering the vegetables that were surprisingly similar to Earths as far as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash, and so on, but there were some that didn't seem native to Earth.

"It's strange how so much of these vegetables are similar to Earths plants and Vegetables." Sam said while picking another tomato from another plant.

"Think of it this way, at least we won't have to guess which is edible and which isn't." Yumi said while gathering her own vegetables.

"I guess you're right, so what do you think Ulrich and William are doing?" Sam asked her.

()()()()()()()()()()()

In the basement Ulrich and William were busy with the various junk and other things you would find in a basement. "Why did we get this job?" William frustratingly asked Ulrich.

"Because were getting free rooms and a nice dinner, and Aelita can be very good at giving orders. There was this time when Odd and I got messed up by Xana using a manta to confuse or senses, and when we got back into the real world, we later got back to the school for a play we we're apart of, then after a while we started acting crazy, thinking we we're still in lyoko being attacked by monsters and then got sent to the hospital tied up, and Aelita got us out and into Lyoko. But when we we're in Lyoko, we thought we we're in the real world." Ulrich said to him.

"Wait, didn't they try to tell you two you we're in the real world?" William asked intrigued by this adventure.

"Well our senses were pretty messed up, the others said we we're insane. We almost attacked some of the audience while we we're acting up at the play, personally it must have been embarrassing for me and Odd." Ulrich replied.

"Was I possessed by Xana when this happened?" William asked in a sad and serious tone.

"No, this was quiet a bit ago before you joined us." Ulrich said as he put up another box.

"I see, well lets get this done." William said picking up another box.

"William, stop beating yourself up, its old news, we need to be on our best offense against Xana. Don't you think he won't use that against you when we find him? The past is the past, so let's all just start fresh." Ulrich said coming over to him putting a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

"Thanks Ulrich, your right, Xana will do what ever it takes to bring us down, so we need to be at our strongest." William replied with more confidence.

"So do you think the next warriors in this town? Aelita said the arrow was pointing into town." William asked him.

"Hard to say, it's not like that arrow is GPS." Ulrich replied.

"Then let's just find this warrior and be on our way." William said putting a box on a shelf.

"First we find to this person, but then we gotta convince this fella to join us, which probably won't be easy." Ulrich said.

"When has anything been easy?" William asked after putting some boxes on the shelf only for it to fall off the shelf on him. "Ulrich, get this stuff off me!" He shouted.

"Careful there young lad, I once broke my leg by putting to much stuff on that shelf a long time ago." Insula said coming downstairs to help them and show them where the boxes needed to go.

()()()()()()()()()

Jeremie had never really worked in a kitchen, at least the last time he really spent anytime in one was when he was a little boy, and his parents would cook together and even back then he remembered them being very playful, as if they were still dating, but in the end Aelita had given him a chore with her and that was the end of it, which gave them plenty to do because the kitchen was quite large, not big enough for a whole school or something, but big enough for small crowds if they ever got the rooms full. And it had over ten burners, three ovens, and a large counter-top with a bunch of pots and pans and other utensils hanging over them and a big cabinet for the plates, cups, and silverware, a massive dishwasher in the back, and a huge pantry for dry goods, and a very big and long fridge for cold food with a freezer on the side, and a soak-sink.

"So just cut those up and come get me when your done." Serreasa said to Aelita giving her another plate of vegetables to chop up for the gangs dinner while she had Jeremie stir some sauces while she attended to the meats that were cooking in the oven.

Aelita, why did you have us on kitchen duty?" Jeremie asked while still stirring the sauces.

"Well I just thought we do better in here. After all, Aracane and Odd can get the wood cut up in no time. Yumi and Sam, I doubt have any experience in the kitchen, and as for Ulrich and William, they can clean that basement quicker." Aelita said to him.

"I guess so, but is that amulet still pointing to the other side of town?" Jeremie replied.

"Yes it is, so lets hope whoever this person is, will stay for the night." She said back while quickly looking at the amulet before putting it back in her pocket.

"Who knows, maybe the next warrior will rent a room here tonight?" Jeremie said.

"Jeremie, what are the odds that the next warrior will come here? There are a few other lodges to stay at, so in the end, we my have to still look tomorrow morning." She said to him, amused by Jeremie's positive, but unlikely luck as to the next warrior being here in the lodge tonight.

()()()()()()()()()

On the other side of town, straight down on the towns main street and a little farther down another road showed a young Lizardin girl walking down the road. She had light tan skin tone, bright light green eyes, her hair was a light green color, and was medium length and quite messy, but well groomed too. And her long pointed ears had a few earrings and on her long reptile tail, at the end was two flaps of fins on the sides of the tails tip had a few jewelery piercings.

She wore a dark pink bandana that covered her top head, and had long strands that go to her shoulders. She had a short scarf around her neck and a black top that went to her elbows and black tight pants that went down to her knees, she had a matching long silk cloth around her waist and light knee high boots that were both tough and feminine at the same time, and she had a metal grieve on her right arm, and some bracelets on her left arm.

Her weapons consisted of several daggers, she had a large double bladed one strapped to the front of her that was meant to be battle ready and another one sheathed on the top of her left boot, and another one sheathed under the top of her right grieve, and another at her right side, and yet another one strapped to the back of her left shoulder, and finally one she kept hidden behind her right under her silk cloth and this one almost looked like a short sword and she never uses that one at all. And her final weapon was in a large shoulder strapped satchel that had a few supplies and a chain weapon called Kulak which is just like the ninja weapon on Earth called the kusarigama, and it had the curved blade handle and a long chain with a heavy weight on the end, and it is a very formidable weapon.

She walked closer into town and came upon another sign of the town that was just like the one the gang came across. She paused at the sign and read it out loud to herself.

"Rargis Town... seems like a nice place to stop for the night." She said looking at the towns sign in a very cheerful and kind voice. And so she started to make her way into town before the sun started setting.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang had finally finished they're chores. Aracane and Odd have stacked so much wood that the lodge owners would have plenty left over for next winter despite Odd pissing Aracane off a few times that he was almost tempted to 'miss' the logs. Yumi and Sam had brought enough produce from the garden that the old couple will have to sell some in town. As for Ulrich and William, they cleaned the basement out so well that Insula is thinking about putting some new rooms down there. So in the end the gang did a good job, and after washing up in the large shower room, they all sat down for a nice dinner of roasted meat cooked with vegetables and sauces of their choosing.

"Well youngsters, dig in, you earned it." Insula said sitting down next to his wife at the head of the table.

"No problem there." Odd said gathering various food placements that were on the table.

"You know, our friend here might eat you guys out of house." Ulrich said sitting across from him.

"It's only natural for a growing youngster to have a big appetite." Serreasa said grateful for Odd's love of her food.

"Thank you ma'am, you're food is great, and these potatoes are awesome." Odd said stuffing his mouth.

"Speaking of big appetites, Aracane has one just as big as Odd's, if not bigger." Yumi said, pointing her thumb at Aracane.

"I have a big appetite is because I got the muscles for it, so I need to eat a lot." Aracane said while flexing his right arm muscle showing everyone the large bicep.

"Please not at the table." Sam asked siting across from him.

"So anyway, we are glad you put us up for the night." Aelita said steering the conversation in another direction. "And if there's we can do in the morning, please let us know." She added, sitting at the other end with Jeremie next to her.

"Well if you don't mind, I could use some help with your breakfast since there two eat so much." Serreasa said, pointing to Odd and Aracane.

"After breakfast I think we will be heading out not long after." Jeremie said, planning for tomorrows event.

"Where are you kids going anyway?" Insula asked.

"We are just traveling around fro now, that's all." Jeremie replied to him.

"There's no need to keep secrets, you're all warriors. I know, the Misses and I we're just like you, we traveled many lands until we we're in our thirty's or so when we saw this town, it was a nice place to settle and finally got properly married, and had a son and a daughter" Insula said thinking back to those old days.

"Where are your kids?" Aelita asked.

"They live here in town with their wife and husband. Our son Traska is one of the towns guard, and our daughter Lenjala runs a small shop not far from us, and they bring they're kids over here all the time for family events and even a nice big dinners." Serreasa said.

"Our sons got a boy and a girl, and another one six months away. And our daughter has a girl and a boy too." Insula added. Thinking about his grandkids.

"Sounds like you two have your hands full with those grandchildren?" Yumi asked them with a smile.

"You can say that again, Traska's son has quite a fight in him, and he's only thirteen. And Lenjala's daughter is very hyper, and can really talk up a storm, and she's twelve I believe." Insula continued while holding his finger to his chin keeping track of his whole family.

"It's just good to have a happy family and to always be close by." Aelita said, secretly hurt over the fact her parents are gone forever.

"Well although it's nice to have family near, but in the end, family is what you make of it, even if they're not related to you by blood. So remember that young ones, especially if you're gonna be together for a long time." Insula said giving them all some words of wisdom. "Well enough chatter, let's finish before our dinner gets cold."

They dug back in with the nice meal that was made for them. As the night finally settled, the gang helped clean the dishes and went to the guests area to watch some television or to play some of the various games they had, and to even hear some more of Insula and Serreasa's tales that they had in their youth, it was around 9:00 when they finally turned in for the night. The boys in one of the bunk rooms, the girls in the other bunk room.

"So what do we wear? We don't have any night clothes on us?" William said to the guys.

"Simple, sleep in your under garments because when we're outside, we're gonna have to sleep in our clothes just the way they are." Aracane said to them, reminding them they won't have it like this all the time.

"No problem to me, night guys, see you in the morning for a big breakfast." Odd said laying down to finally go to sleep.

"Yeah because tomorrow we have got to find the next warrior, and then keep on pressing forward, so let's get to sleep and we will find the next one first thing in the morning." Ulrich said as he and the rest lied down to get a good nights sleep.

In the girls room.

"Aelita, is that arrow still pointing on the other side of town?" Sam asked.

"Yes, but it's still shaking around, so hopefully the next warrior will stay in town." Aelita replied while looking at the amulets arrow pointing in the direction of the towns other side.

"Well if the warriors near, I doubt he or she would leave at this time now, so let's settle in and we will find this person in the morning." Yumi said while getting in her bed before turning off the table stand light.

"You know it's funny, Jeremie said the next warrior might come into this lodge tonight, but when have we been that lucky?" Aelita said while getting settled in her bed.

"You never know, after today, I think anything can happen, and maybe fate might cut us a break and we will find this next warrior in the morning like Jeremie said." Sam said to them before falling asleep on her bed.

The gang had settled in for the night but were unaware that tomorrow will begin the next step in they're journey.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The night crept in for the young Lizardin girl as she walked down the town, the streets were almost empty. Everyone either went home, or out to other places in the town. As she walked down the walkway with the street lights on, she soon came across a familiar lodge that she was thinking of settling for the evening.

"My gods, it's getting late, and it took longer then I thought to get here and my dinner in that restaurant took awhile because it was packed. Well this lodge looks like a nice place, I just hope they will let be stay even though it's late." She said as she walked to the steps. "Tarrga's Rest, I like the sound of it." She said as she was about to press the button.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Well my dear, another great dinner, and another nice night we have." Insula said to his wife in they're upstairs living-room where they were having some last minute discussions before getting ready for bed.

"Thank you love, those kids were some of the best guest's we've had." Serreasa said while reading a book.

Just then, the bell ranged and alerted Insula and he walked to the office desk where they kept their files and guest receipts where a small monitor with a two-way com so they can look at the person ringing the bell.

"Yes, who is this?" Insula said pressing the button to talk to the young girl.

"Excuse me, I know it's late, but do you have a room available? I need a place for tonight." She asked speaking into the com.

"Honey let the dear in, it is a bit cold tonight." Serreasa said lowering her book to look at him.

"Don't worry, I was gonna let her in, but she has to pay." Insula replied to her.

"Well of course she has to, I doubt she's friends with those kids." She replied as she continued to read her book.

"We have a room for you. Wait right there, I will be down in a moment." Insula said pressing the button again to talk to her. He unlocked the bolts on their main room door and went down the stairs and unlocked the door to the outside letting in the young girl.

"Come on in dear. I am Insula, and we will get you settled tonight." Insula said to her.

"Oh thank you, I thought I might have to sleep outside again." She said walking in.

"Well you wont have to worry about that. I'm afraid dinners over, but would you like some leftovers?" He asked while heading to the check-in counter by the wall near the door.

"No thanks, I had dinner in a restaurant even though it was packed." She replied.

"I see, well you can have breakfast in the morning, my wife Serreasa makes a very nice cinnamon pastry. So the room for the night is fifty dollars, and you can use the showers, and just to let you know, we have some other guests, so you will also have breakfast with them if you don't mind. So now all I need is your name and I will show you to your room." Insula said while opening the book for her to sign.

"Thank you Insula for letting me in this late, and my name is Kairaree Raptali, and you have a very nice place here." She said while signing her name.

"Nice to meet you Kairaree, and you will be able to meet my wife and the guests as well. The guests are about your age too." Insula said as he showed her to the single room.

As she got in to the room, it was too late for a shower, so she stripped down to her pantie like underclothes and went straight to bed. But before she went to bed, she asked herself. "This is a nice place and I wonder what tomorrow might bring for me?" Kairaree said yawning as she fell into slumber.

()()()()()()()()()()

Across the street in an alley stood three hooded figures that were deep in the dark alley, looking at the lodge where the young Lizardin girl Kairaree slept. They have been following her for some time, and now they have an opportunity to take the very special item she was carrying with her, unaware she was of it's importance and as to why they wanted it.

**END CHAPTER.**


	6. THIEVES IN THE NIGHT

**CHAPTER 6: THIEVES IN THE NIGHT**

It was very late, the hooded strangers in the alley waited till midnight and the only light was the glow form the planets moons. The small one was behind the large one, while the medium one was at crescent, and the strangers stayed out of the streetlights that left a faint glow on patches of ground. They stood there to plot their means of infiltration.

The three strangers were all Lizardin men wearing the same black assassin like outfits with hoods and short capes that covered and wrapped they're upper bodies where they hid their weapons.

"The girl is in that lodge, she will be an easy target." The one Lizardin man said with light skin and scars on his forehead, left cheek, under the chin, over his lips, across the nose, and over his right eye, and short black hair.

"We can sneak in and kill the little tramp in her sleep and take the damn dagger." The gruff looking Lizardin man said with darker skin, bald headed showing his scales on his head that go down all Lizadins back neck and spine, and his right ear looked as if some animal bite half it off.

"No! we will not kill her. She is of no importance, besides this is a small town and a young girl killed in her sleep will not go unnoticed. I will take the dagger, and then we will give it to our employer, and she will be left lost and confused." The youngest looking member said with tan skin, flawless features and gray long hair.

"Then what do you suggest, O fateful leader?" The gruff bald one said.

"If you just take the dagger, wont she try to find it?" The scarred one asked.

"We will be long gone by then, and she doesn't even know we have been following her for a few days. It will be an easy steal, I'll go take the dagger, you two just stay back, I wont be long." The young one said.

"What do these people who hired us want with a simple dagger anyway?" The scarred one asked.

"Who gives a damn, as long as they pay us, they can cut their own throats for all I care." The bald one said.

"Then just keep quiet and will do the work, so just shut it!" The young one said as he was about to go to his target.

The thief moved quietly from the alley, staying out of the streetlights and staying hunched over as he made his way to the building. He arrived at the porch and slowly sneaked to the windows and looked in to the first one, he spotted the boys of the gang in they're room, and the only thing he can hear is the surprisingly quiet snoring of the Cataranion boy.

Discouraged he let to look at the next one, only to peer into the girls room, slightly annoyed again, he finally started looking into the single rooms. One by one he peered in until he final found the girl Kairaree's room. There she laid fast asleep, he watched her breathing to make sure she was fully asleep as he finally formed a plan. He noticed the window was unlocked so he pulled a small sliver of metal out of his pocket and jimmied the window until he could slip his fingers under it and slowly pulled it open, not making any noise and slowly slipped in like an animal on the prowl.

He slowly walked around the room, keeping low to the floor and he noticed her clothes on a chair near the bed, he crept to it to search for the prized dagger, but making sure he doesn't leave any evidence that someone was in here. He was becoming angry of not being able to find the weapon, suddenly he noticed that one of the sheaths didn't have a dagger in it and it made him very concerned, then he heard a groan, he looked over to see Kairaree beginning to stir awake. In a quiet panic he sprang away to the window and out then quickly closed it before Kairaree arose from her bed with her main dagger in hand as if ready for a battle.

"It's not morning yet? I hate it when I wake up suddenly." She said to herself then laid back down to sleep.

The thief made his way back into the alley with his other men of his party. "Well, where is it? Where's the dagger?" The scarred one asked hoping for good news.

"She woke suddenly, I didn't have a chance to find it." The young one said looking back to the lodge.

"If you just killed the little bitch, we could have left town by now and never have to look back!" The bald one angrily said.

"There's nowhere to hide, it's only open road and land in all directions and we stick out too much on the open road in the middle of the night, especially if someone passed us on the road!" The young one said annoyed by them questioning his authority. "We will stay deeper in this alley tonight and try again in the morning." the young leader said as he walked into the alley and found a spot to lay against the wall to sleep.

"Technically, since it's past midnight, it's actually morning." The scarred one said to his group.

"Shut-up you idiot!" The bald one said to him while taking a spot to sleep. The scarred one just shrugged and took a spot in the alley and the thieves waited for morning to try again to take the girls dagger.

Day 2

The morning sun raised past 7:00am and the town was already busy, people were going to their jobs and attending to their stores and any other business they had to do.

Aelita was deep sleep until her sleep started to become disturbed by a faint red glow. "What is going on?" She said rising from her bed to notice the amulets arrow that laid on the nightstand by her bunk. She looked at it and to her shock, the arrow was glowing brightly and pointing to the door. Aelita grabbed the amulet and walked to the door and slowly opened it and looked down the hall to see the young Lizardin girl walking to the shower area and Aelita then saw the arrow glowing brightly on the amulet that she held in her hand. Aelita quickly closed the door and put her back to the door. "I can't believe it! I found the next warrior, we found the next warrior!" Aelita said to herself. "Yumi, Sam, wake up your not gonna believe it, I found the next warrior." Aelita said shaking her friends awake.

"Aelita, what are you talking about?" Yumi said slowly stirring awake still half asleep.

"Five more minutes please." Sam said rolling over in her sleep.

"Guys, I found the next warrior, she is down the hall in the shower area right now!" Aelita said trying to get them up.

"Wait! Are you serious?" Yumi said finally getting what Aelita was saying.

"Yes, now come on, we got to get the boys up too!" Aelita said while putting on the rest of her clothes and the other girls quickly put they're clothes back on since they all slept in their undergarment and made there way to the boys room. Yumi quietly knocked on their door until finally.

"Okay, Okay, I'm coming, it's not like the buildings on fire." Jeremie's faint voice came from the other side of the door. As Jeremie opened the door, Aelita and the other girls gently pushed him in before he could say anything and went to wake the rest of the guys. "Aelita, whats going on?" Jeremie said concerned by the girls weird behavior.

"Wake the others, hurry!" Was all Aelita said. So Jeremie waked William while Yumi shook Ulrich until he shot up, Sam tried to wake Odd, but he wasn't even moving.

"Umm, what do I do with him?" Sam asked her new friends.

"Pinch his nose, that always works when he's deep asleep. Trust me, you learn things when you've been his roommate for a few years." Ulrich said as he put on his cloths.

Sam pinched Odd's nose and in a few seconds odd snorted awake to see Sam standing over him. "Oh, hey Sam, is breakfast ready?" Odd asked her.

"No not yet, Aelita needs to tell us something" Sam replied.

"Alright Aelita, what's going on?" Jeremie asked her again.

"I found the next warrior like you said last night Jeremie. The next warrior is here in this lodge right now!" Aelita said almost eccentric.

"Holy shit, you're serious. You guys have been here for more then a day, and already we found another one." Aracane said to the group.

"Yes, she's down the hall in the shower now." Aelita said to them.

"So what now? We can't just go up to her and say. Hey there, we are from another planet and we need you to join us in a quest to kill a mad monster named Xana!" Odd said to the gang.

"It's like I thought, finding theme is the easy part, getting them to join us is the hard part." Ulrich said.

"I have an idea. Let's get to know this person, if we are friendly to her, we may be able to soften the blow with her in this whole event." Yumi said to the group.

Just then, a knock on the door. "Young ones, are you awake?" The lodge keeper Insula asked.

"Yes, we are up." Aelita said while opening the door.

"Well what are you all doing in here?" Insula asked looking into the room.

"We we're just waking the boys. They can be very heavy sleepers." Aelita said covering her excuse.

"Okay then. If you want, you can help Serreasa make breakfast, she could use the help." Insula replied.

"Sure thing, me, Yumi, and Sam will help out and the boys can get cleaned up." Aelita said.

"Splendid then, come along girls." Insula said heading for the kitchen.

"Well I guess we will go wash up then." Ulrich said as the guys headed for the showers.

"Why do you have us working in the kitchen Aelita?" Yumi asked.

"I thought we could talk to this new warrior and get to know her. You know some, what did you call it? 'girl time' Yumi?" Aelita asked her.

"Sounds like a plan then, come on." Sam said putting her hands on each of their shoulders, leading the girls to the kitchen. The boys made their way to the bathroom and passed the lizardin girl as she was heading for the kitchen.

"Good morning there." she said to the boys in a very cheery tone.

"Oh, good morning to you as well." Ulrich said to her while the other guys greeted her as too, making sure they don't seem to strange to her as they went to the bathroom.

Aelita and the other girls were already at work with breakfast. Serreasa was cooking pastry's while Sam was making waffle batter, and Yumi was making beverages of coffee and tea while Aelita was cutting fruit. Suddenly a small knock on the side of the door was heard, they looked to see the lizardin girl standing at the door.

"Hello there, is there anything I can do to help out?" she asked.

"good morning... Kairaree right?" Serreasa asked thinking of her name.

"Yes it is, sorry if I rented a room late at night." Kairaree said as she walk into the kitchen.

"Oh it's no problem dear. It's just good you got to us before the husband and I went to bed, so come on in and you can help with the eggs and bacon, I'm sure those boys will eat it all up." Serreasa said.

"Odd mostly." Yumi said to herself.

Kairaree went to the skillet to start with the eggs. She was quick at work with the eggs and put a big slap of bacon on, it was then that Aelita decided to make the first move.

"So Kairaree, what brings you into this town if you don't mind me asking?" Aelita asked her.

"Well, I've been out on the road for about two years now. I lived with my uncle after my parents were gone. But after a few years I decided to go out and see the world, sure I may have left suddenly without giving my uncle much of a notice, but he'll forgive me when I see him again." Kairaree said.

"I'm sorry about you're parents. Our friend Aracane lost his parents at a very young age and my parents are gone too." Aelita siad.

"yeah, there's a lot of that going around. What with all those damn pointless battles over petty thing." she replied, her tone becoming slightly angry. "But like my uncle said. Our loved ones wouldn't want us to be sad over their departure and want us to live a full life." she said quoting her uncle.

"I'm sure you're right, thank you. Well anyway, I'm Aelita. This is Yumi, and that's Sam" Aelita said pointing to her friends.

"Hey is breakfast ready? I'm starved." Odd said coming into the kitchen.

"And these are the boys. This is Ulrich, odd, Jeremie, Aracane, and William." Aelita said pointing to the boys.

"It will be a few more minutes, so make you're way to the table room and we will bring it out. So be patient Odd." Serreasa said giving Odd a light slap on the back of his hand with a spatula as he was reaching for some bacon.

The boys made their way to the dining area where Insula sat, reading the paper with a cup of coffee.

"Hello there boys, I assume breakfast is almost ready?"

"Ask Odd's hand." Ulrich jokingly said.

"Keep it up there Ulrich." Odd muttered under his breath.

"So I assume you kids will be leaving most likely today?" Insula asked.

"I guess so, we got a lot of ground to cover and we need to make headway eventually." Ulrich said as he took a seat.

"Yes the open road and lands are calling to you. It beckons you to travel, so I suggest you get some supplies from the stores before heading out." Insula said to the boys.

"Thanks, we will. And thanks for putting us up for the night too." Ulrich replied.

"No problem, people need to help others when needed." Insula replied.

"Breakfast is ready." Serreasa said bringing a tray of food out and the girls brought out various plates and other trays too.

"Yes!" Was all Odd said.

"Grab a plate and eat up." Serreasa said to them as she place the trays down. They all sat and enjoyed they're breakfast.

()()()()()()()()()

The thieves in the alley were finally beginning to wake up as the sun reached the alley. "Wake up you two, wake up!" The young leader said, giving each of them a light kick.

"So are we gonna try again today? Or do you want to wait again tonight?" The bald one sarcastically asked.

"Keep it down, it's not often three people talk in an alley like this you know." The scarred one said being woken by their bickering.

"We will get it today. And I decided, if it comes to it, we will kill her and ditch the body." The young leader said without a change in his tone.

"Finally he gets it." The bald one said to himself.

"Watch it, or you will join her as well." The young leader said to the bald one. "Now lets get us something to eat at a restaurant. No point in working on a empty stomach."

"But what about her?" The scarred one said.

"She wont be leaving right away, so lets abide our time, and we will take the dagger when the moments right." The young leader replied. So they quickly left the alley and made they're way to a diner, but making sure they stayed near the lodge.

()()()()()()()

As the gang continued to eat, they were each thinking to themselves. How were they gonna get this person to join their gang? They finally finish and help clean up. It was then that they decided to make a move. "So your off to the market then?" Insula asked.

"Yes, we will get some supplies, and then we will come by to see you guys off." Aelita said to the elderly couple.

"I need some stuff as well." Kairaree added.

"Hey, maybe we can get to know you too?" Yumi asked Kairaree.

"Sure thing, you guys look like a fun crowd. Besides I really don't have to be anywhere, so I got plenty of time to get to know you guys." Kairaree said to them with a smile.

"If you kids want, head to our daughters store. It's called Lenjala's shop. We will call and ask her to give you some discounts." Serreasa said.

"Oh no, that's way too generous. You have already done so much for us, we don't want to over do it." Aelita said waving her hands.

"It's no problem, you kids are wonderful. I believe you warriors are gonna do great things someday, so consider this our way of thanking you." Insula added in.

"One day we will repay you guys for how generous you have been." Aelita replied with a smile at the kind old couple.

"Oh, enough with the dramatics, off to the market now." Serreasa said to them.

The gang left the house and made their way to the market. The place was already bustling with business. People were buying things, and travelers were resupplying to go off on their next adventures.

"This place is huge! We will be here all day." Kairaree said to them.

"Which gives us some time to think of a way to convince her to join us." Ulrich whispered to the gang.

"So then, let's look around and see what we can find." Kairaree said turning to them unaware of their quiet conversation.

On the other side of the street sat the thieves on the outside dining area in front of the diner. They were eating their own breakfast, but still keeping the hoods over them except the young leader.

"She's here in the market, we need to get that dagger!" The bald one said.

"And how do you suppose we do that in the middle of a busy market and in broad daylight as well?" The leader said annoyed by his temperamental partner.

"How about we wait for her when she's alone? We sneak up on her and we knock her to the ground and take it and run." The scarred one suggested.

"Lower ourselves to petty thug style? My gods have some pride in your work gentlemen. Now my plan is to lift it off her when she's not looking and before she knows it we will be gone." The young leader said to them.

"Fine, dammit! As long as we get it and get out of here. I hate small towns." The bald one said with his head low, eating noisily.

"Our quarry is within our grasp, and we will be very well paid soon." The young leader said to his men.

The gang began to look into the shops and other places that the market had to offer until finally they made it to the old couples daughters place. Lenjala's Shop. It was small but had a lot inside. It had various foods and medical supplies, and even some camping style supplies for travelers. The gang entered the shop to see a Molknuc woman which they assumed was their daughter Lenjala. She looked a lot like her mother, just a few decades younger at least and had long light red hair and a long dress. She had a very kind and welcoming smile as if she knew them. "Welcome, you must be the young kids my parents called about." She said to them as they entered the building.

"Hello there, we just came in to get some supplies and anything else of interest." Kairaree said to her as they began to look around.

"Then you've all come to the right place, take you're time and let me know if you need anything." She said as she went back to the check-out counter.

"Will do, well guys lets have a look around." Kairaree said to her soon to be friends.

They all went to various shelves looking at all the things the store had to offer, even some things that looked a lot like stuff on Earth that was familiar to the Earth born heroes. Not long after they began to look around, the young thieve entered the building pretending he was just a customer. "Hello and welcome there." The shop keeper Lenjala said to him.

"Why thank you, you have such a nice place." The young thieve lied through his smile as he began to 'shop' while eagerly waiting to get the girl alone. He kept close to her but at the same time not looking like he was following her. He casually browsed the shelves, reading and looking at the products. Just then he saw her alone and out of view by the medical supplies. She couldn't be seen by her friends and the shop keeper, so he slowly crept to her, he could see the prized daggers handle loosely poking out of her sash that was wrapped around her waist, it would be an easy grab and he would casually walk out the door when he gets it. So he made his way behind her, she was busy looking at the supplies as he then slowly reached for it. Inch by inch his hand crept as the dagger was just about in range, she turned around and almost bumped into him.

"_Godsdammit" _He thought to himself, desperately hiding his anger on his face at yet another failed attempt to steal the dagger as he quickly thought of an excuse before she began to think something was wrong. "Oh excuse me there young lady, I was trying to get the first-aid kit." He said with a chuckle and smile but deep down full of anger.

"Oh, here you go." She said grabbing the small box and handing it to him.

"Thank you very much and have a nice day." He replied and walked off with the kit to the counter to check out.

"Find everything you needed?" Lenjala asked.

"Yes, yes I did, have a nice day." He replied and walking out with a bit of a rush. He made his way into an alley where his friends were waiting.

"Strike two there boss." the scarred one said standing against a wall with one foot up.

"I see you failed again, and why did you buy a first-aid kit?" The bald one angrily asked.

"For you." The young leader said.

"What?" _PUNCH! _The leader punched the bald one right in the face.

"Ugh, you bastard! I'll kill you!" The Bald one yelled and pulled out a long knife. He got up and was about to attack their leader even though the young leader wasn't even paying attention to him as he was looking at the shop from across the street.

The angry bald man was about to attack, but the scarred one stop and held him at bay. "Hold on there, we need each other on this, whether we like it or not. If this goes bad, we may need to fight both her and her friends, so keep it cool and let's collect our reward and you can then kill him." The scarred one said holding his friend back.

The bald one finally stopped trying to get the leader and put his weapon away and walked over next to their leader. "When this is over, I suggest you watch your back." The bald one said looking at the young leader with anger and malice.

"We will get it, just wait, you'll all see." The leader replied while still looking at the shop.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

"So did you guys get what you need?" Kairaree asked.

"Well... you see we don't have any money on us." Ulrich replied to her.

"That's okay, it's on me, I have plenty of money." Kairaree said.

"Thanks, but we really don't need anything right now." Yumi added.

"Tell you what, how about we get some lunch later and I will pay." Kairaree offered.

"Sounds good to me guys." Odd said with a smile.

"Good, it's settled then." Kairaree replied to Odd.

"You might regret that." Yumi warned her.

"No worries, now lets check out and have a look around town." Kairaree said while heading to the register.

"Will this be all?" Lenjala asked taking the items to check.

"Yes, this will do." Kairaree replied putting the items on the counter. She got a small first-aid kit and some dried meat packages, soaps, and a canteen. "I needed to get some more of this stuff after being on the road for so long." Kairaree said outloud.

"My parents were just like that a long time ago, they traveled many lands and seen a lot of things as well, so thank you and take care." Lenjala said.

"You too." Kairaree cheerfully said. As they all headed for the door

"Oh and young girl," Lenjala called out to her.

"Yes?" Kairaree asked, turning around to her

"That man that was here, keep an eye out for him. Something seemed off about him." Lenjala warned.

"He was a bit strange, but I'm sure he's harmless. And I doubt I will see him again." Kairaree said unaware on how wrong she was.

They all went back onto the street and back to the market to see the activity's going on in the market. There were various stores and stands that lined the town and the gang took it all in. From food stands where some offered samples that Odd enjoyed until they shooed him away. To street performers and even a blacksmith shop where Kairaree had a few of her daggers sharpened. After awhile, noon rolled in and they all finally found a nice place to eat lunch in a restaurant called CORNER STREET DINER.

A nice place on the edge of the busy market which was perfect for people who needed to get out of the market area. The place was filled with customers but not to busy. They made their way in where a nice waitress showed the gang to a table booth in the back and took there drink orders and gave menus.

"Well they have a nice selection." William said, looking at the menu.

"I might try the roasted stuff." Odd said reading the menu too.

"I might just have some of the sandwiches." Jeremie chimed in.

"You guys just get what you want and I'll pay." Kairaree said to them.

"Just beware of Odd and his choices." Yumi warned her again.

The gang made their orders, and while they waited, the gang asked a little more about Kairaree and where she came from. "As you know, I lived with my uncle. But when my parents were alive. They came from two different lands my species lived. My father came from a long line of Lanulza warriors while my mother was a tribal warrior from the Zikulma tribes of the Tribal Plains. My father met her when he helped with a relief effort back when the tribal plains were being harassed by bandits and even some greedy corporate company's that were trying to take the lands massive and rich resources through out the lands." Kairaree said recollecting from what her parents told her.

"My master told me about that land, and its not just Lizardin's, there's all kinds of different species living there too. And he also told me that all kinds of people have for ages either tried to barter or steal the resources that filled the lands." Aracane said, hearing about that place.

"Yeah, my father stayed around to help keep the peace and he also took my mother to his city as well, but he always stayed near her home land. My father told me that when he first saw her, he loved her right away and she felt the same way, and in a few years they were married by both of their cultures traditions, and in less then a year I was born in my mothers tribe where I learned to fight in the art of dagger and chain her tribe have fought by for century's. I was a quick learner at such a young age and my father taught me a few things of his fighting styles too." Kairaree continued.

"When did you live with your uncle?" Sam asked.

"I was about eleven when my parents had him come get me because there was an attack by bandits that to this day, nobody still doesn't know who were the people that sent them. So my uncle took me to his and my fathers home town near the city they were from, and I never saw my parents again. And the only thing I have is... well..." She began to stutter.

"What, what is it? You can tell us." Yumi asked.

"Well before they gave me to my uncle. My mother gave me this strange dagger." Kairaree said pulling out the weapon that was hidden behind her, it was a tad longer then any dagger and it almost looked like a short sword then a dagger. The sheath was a dark pinkish-red that matched the handle. It had tribal markings on the sheath and a few on the handle as well. On the guard had several strands of leather with various charms and beads. One strand had colorful beads with a star at the end, another had various luck charms, and one that had six round beads, and another one which was the strangest one of them all. Each bead was shaped in the form of skulls of each of the different species that lived on the planet. They were made of sterling silver and had small gems on top of the heads with holes in the eyes.

"That is a strange dagger, I wonder if those charms mean anything?" Aelita asked her.

"I wondered that too, but all I know is my parents told me to keep it safe and never ever let it out of my site or show anyone too." Kairaree said keeping her dagger close.

"But why are you showing us if your not supposed to show it?" Ulrich said pointing it out.

"I guess I trust you, even though I hardly know you all." she replied putting the dagger away.

"Thanks for showing us anyway." Yumi gratefully said.

"Well I suppose it helps to share things and get somethings off you're chest." Kairaree replied.

"Hey our lunch is here!" Odd exclaimed. The gangs food was brought to them. And after they were finished, Kairaree asked them something that has been bouncing around in her head.

"So guys, while were on the subject of telling secrets. Is there something you want to tell me?" Kairaree asked quizzically. The gang was speechless. Hear they were trying to think of a way to tell her and now she's confronting them about their strange behavior. "I know you guys want to tell me something, I kind of heard you when we were in the market street, so what is it?" She asked again.

That's when Ulrich took charge and stood up. "Let's find a private place and we will tell you everything." He said. So the bill was paid and they headed outside and walked to a map wall that showed the towns layout. "This park looks like a nice place to go and we will tell you everything." Ulrich said while looking at the map.

They quickly made they're way to the park that wasn't far from where they were. They walked deep into the park and found a small gazebo where they could lounge without bringing attention to them. "Okay, so spill." Kairaree said.

"What if we told you that me, Yumi, William, Sam, Jeremie, Aelita, and Odd were from another planet. And on that planet we fought a evil computer virus called Xana. We beat him, but it turned out that he was still alive and the real him is really on this planet and he was able to send us here from our home world to this world to try and kill us. And now us, and the big guy Aracane here, and you, and several other warriors are chosen by fate to finally destroy him for good." Ulrich said giving her the quick run down.

Kairaree stood there speechless, she held her hand to her mouth and had her arm under her other elbow for support. She slowly paced around deep in thought as to the things she was just told by her companions. It was a good few minutes until she finally spoke. "Okay... say that I believe you guys and all this. Then how do you guys know your chosen by fate. And if your from another planet, how is Odd a Cataranion?" She said shooting out questions.

"Well as for the whole, him being a Cataranion. The thing is, we fight Xana and his attacks on our real world, and I mean _our_ home planet called Earth. We would go to a abandoned factory where a super computer was, and we get virtualized into a place called Lyoko and we would look like this." Ulrich said gesturing to his and the others cloths. "And Odd would look like this. Now as for how we we're chosen, a being from another realm he called The Plains of a Higher Existence came to us and said when we got sent here to this world. Him and his other beings brought out the warrior within us, so now we are in our warrior suits and Aracane saved us from some assassins, so after he joined us. We are now looking for the other warriors" Ulrich went on.

"And this being from another realm, who is he, and how are you supposed to know where to find the other warriors?" Kairaree asked, still unsure if these peoples words are true.

"He is called many names, but he goes by Guardian Warrior, or GW as Odd calls him." Yumi said stepping in.

"And how we find you and the others is by this." Aelita said pulling out the amulet and showing it to her. "It's called the Amulet of Destiny. It leads you to the nearest warrior and then when we find the warrior, they are supposed to take the amulet and swear to join our cause and then it will lead us to the next one." Aelita added.

"So now the question is, will you join us?" William chimed in.

"We can't stop Xana unless all of us are united." Jeremie said.

"Hey I know this is a lot, trust me. I just followed them to the factory before we got sent here, but I found the strength to fight along side them. After all, my family's there, and from what they told me, this Xana is very bad news for both our worlds." Sam added in.

"It's not so bad, we will stick together to the bitter end." Odd added as well.

"Come on, if I can decide to join them, so can you." Aracane encouraged

"I... need some time to think about this." Kairaree said shocked. "So let me just be alone with my thoughts." She said and walked off deeper into the park baffled by everything she was told.

"Well that could have gone better." Ulrich sarcastically said.

"She'll come around, I can see it in her eyes. She's a born fighter and is always ready to help." Aelita said as if she knew her all her life.

"I hope so Aelita, I hope so." Yumi said to Aelita.

()()()()()()()()()

Kairaree walked a bit away from them into the parks less traveled parts. Fighting a moral debate in her mind as to whether these people speak the truth or just crazy? "Well they do seem to be telling the truth, but how can I be certain. After all I'm just wondering around with no place to go. But on the other hand, if I travel with them, I might get to see other places. But then again this Xana sounds really dangerous, especially if he can threat an entire planet, shouldn't that be the job of governments and they're military should be taking care of? But maybe I should join them, but it might be very dangerous, oh what to do?" She said talking out loud to herself as she leaned over a rail to look out to the small lake where ducks swam.

The thieves were a few yards from her, looking from behind a large tree. Their patience worn out and eager to jump her. "What is she rambling on about?" The scarred one asked them.

"Who cares, what is your plan leader?" The bald one said to the young one.

"I've thought of many ways of attack after that fail in the shop. But I've decided for a direct approach" The young one said.

"Wait do you mean?" The bald one begin to ask.

"Yes, so stay here and I will finish this once and for all." The young leader said as he made his way to her. Kairaree was still looking out to the lake unaware the thief was sneaking up right behind her. As he crept closer and closer, he was only inches away until Kairaree's training kicked in and sensed someone approach her and that was when she reacted. She quickly turned to see the familiar thief from the shop.

"You! the man from the shop." Kairaree said shocked.

"Yes you little bitch! Give me the dagger!" The young leader demanded reaching for it.

"Your not getting it that easy!" She said ready for a fight.

"Good, I like a challenge." Was his only reply as they both began their attack. He moved in at the ready, his moves were quick and swift but Kairaree kept him at bay, remaining on the defense, but putting in a few jabs to as the thief kept trying to land a blow and stun her long enough to take the dagger. It was then that he made a quick leg sweep to trip her, she dodged in time but to only have his tail strike her in the side throwing her to the ground, too late to realize it was a trick. She laid on the ground stunned as the thief walked over to her and finally took the prize.

"Now be a good girl and stay there, and just forget about this one little dagger and go on with your life." The young thief mocked as he ran off waving to the others behind the tree. "Lets go you fools, lets go!"

"It's about fucking time we got it!" The bald one said as he joined the leaders side.

"Keep it up and you wont get one cent." The leader warned.

"Stop bickering and lets get out of town already." The scarred one said catching up with both of them.

As they started to run out the park kairaree finally regains her composer and looks in the direction the thieves went. "No way in Tralkin's name am I gonna let you petty thieves get away with my dagger!" She said, spitting out a little blood from when she hit the ground. "But I can't catch them alone." It was then she knew what she must do. She must join their group if she is to ever get back the dagger, so she made her way to where her friends were, for as luck would have it, they too were heading in that direction.

The gang was still waiting in a gazebo hoping she will give them the answer they need. "Geez, I don't know how much longer I can wait!" Odd said to them.

"We don't have any other choice Odd, we can't force her to come along, she needs to decide herself." Yumi said to him.

"Still, she needs to make up her mind,we don't have the luxury to wait around forever." Ulrich said stepping in. Just then they heard a noise in the direction where she went, only to see three strange Lizardin men running, and one of them was very familiar.

"Hey isn't that one guy the one we saw in the shop?" Sam said pointing to them.

"Oh shit, it's her friends, we got to get out of town now!" The leader said realizing his mistake for going in this direction. They quickly ran off to the parks exit leaving the gang confused.

Kairaree soon came into view glad to see her friends. "Guys, those men have my dagger, the one I showed you." she said winded.

"Why did they take your dagger?" William asked.

"I don't know, but I if you guys help me get it back I will join you." She replied.

"Wait you will? Thank you but we don't want you to feel obligated if we get the dagger back" Aelita said to her.

"Look, friends and warriors help each other. Are we not both?" She asked with a smile. "So help me get it back and I will join, deal?" Kairaree said outstretching her hand to Aelita.

"Deal." Aelita replied, shaking her hand.

"Then lets go, we've already wasted enough time!" Yuni said ready for the fight ahead.

"Alright then, the chase is on!" Odd cried.

"Jeremie, hang on, this might get bumpy." Aracane said reaching for him and holding the skinny boy under his arm.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Jeremie shouted.

"Face it Jer, you're not a fast runner, and we don't have time." Aracane explained.

"Lets move out warriors." Ulrich said and they all headed out to catch the thieves. The gang ran into the streets after the thieves while avoiding the pedestrians on the street and soon found the thieves in view. But they were still too far to catch up.

"We won't catch them at this rate!" Ulrich said to them.

"Wait, this town is like a grid. I saw it on that map, if we split up, we can cut them off." Kairaree said to them.

"Good idea, lets do it." Odd said.

"Here's what we will do. Ulrich, Sam, William, go right and turn at the first corner. Yumi, Aracane and I guess you Jeremie, go left and turn at the first corner too. As for Odd, Kairaree, and me, we will keep heading straight after them" Aelita said going over the plan.

"Got it!" The others said and broke off into they're groups to catch the thieves. The gang that broke off turned into the corners and were able to catch up, seeing them from down the street as they passed block by block with the thieves still in view from the main street leading out of town.

"They must have slowed down, thinking they lost us." Ulrich said to his group.

"Let's keep it that way." William replied.

"Then let's get closer and catch them." Sam said taking the lead.

()()()()()()()

"We almost got them." Yumi said to her group.

"Good, let's teach them a lesson, right Jeremie?" Aracane asked him.

"Uuugggghhhh." Was all Jeremie could say as he was getting dizzy from Aracane handling him a little to hard.

()()()()()()()

"We almost got them!" Odd said to his group.

"We'll get your dagger back soon, don't you worry." Aelita reassured her.

"Oh, I am gonna enjoy taking it back from that bastard and his buddy's." Kairaree said with a cruel smirk on her face.

()()()()()()()()

The gang's targets were in view and still unaware of them as they almost caught up. It was then that they all made their move to cut them off. Ulrich, William, and Sam ran right in front of them while Yumi, Aracane who was still holding Jeremie bringing up the rear, and Aelita, Kairaree and Odd finished surrounding them.

The thieves were surrounded by the gang, they had almost escaped as they were just at the towns exit.

A few of the towns people watched from a distance from all the commotion that they were causing.

"I told you we shouldn't have slowed down!" The bald one yelled.

"So close, yet so far." The scarred one muttered.

"We are not done yet, fight you fools!" The leader ordered.

"Give it up, it's over, we out number you guys." Ulrich shouted.

"Just give me back my dagger, and we will let you go." Kairaree said holding out her hand.

"No deal you little harlot. Unlike my 'friends' I came with a backup plan." The bald one said pulling out a large pipe like item from a pocket in his cape. "This is a high impact grenade, it's got enough bang to blow up a block. So back off or I pull the pin!" The crazed bald one said while lacing his finger on the round pin.

"Are you crazy? What good is this dagger if we are dead and can't turn it in you psycho?!" The leader fearfully said.

"I always knew he was wild, but this is too far!" The scarred one added.

"Shut-up, I rather be dead then poor." The angry bald one said ready to pull the pin.

"What do we do? He's crazy and he's standing between me and my dagger" Kairaree said to herself.

_BANG, BANG, BANG! _The sound of gunfire caught the attention of the gang and the thieves. "What's going on here?" A Molknuc man said wearing a modern light black armor like suit, and he looked a lot like Insula but had short brown hair.

"Wait, aren't you Traska? Insula and Serreasa's son?" Ulrich asked the man.

"You've been at my parents lodge. Yes I am, now what's the problem?" He authoritatively demanded.

"These thieves stole my dagger, they've been stalking me and my friends." Kairaree said to the guard.

"Alright pal, put the bomb down and get on the ground now!" Traska ordered.

"No chance pig. We are either leaving this dead-end town one way or another." The bald one said ready to pull the pin.

It was then that Kairaree decided to make a move. She pulled the weighted end of her chain weapon from her satchel and threw the small cylinder-like end at the bald thief's hand where he held the grenade. The impact struck his hand hard, most likely breaking a few bones. "AAAAHHHH! you fucking bitch!" He yelled dropping the grenade and instinctively held his throbbing hand. Its was then that Aracane stepped in and tackled the man while still holding Jeremie.

"Have a nice nap." Was all Aracane said before making his fist the last thing the bald man saw before blacking out as he punched him dead-center on the face. "Well he's gonna be out for a long time." Aracane said victoriously.

"You can let go of me now." Was all Jeremie said, annoyed over Aracane still holding him.

"I need to get out of here" The scarred one said slowly creeping away, but before he could run, he turned to find Sam standing in front of him.

She pulled out one of her tonfas and struck the scarred one in the stomach then on his knee. He grunted in pain from each blow and as he was hunched over, Sam delivered the final blow to the back of his head, putting him out as well. "Another one down guys!" Sam said giving them a thumbs-up.

"Dammit no, I've come to far to lose!" The leader said through gritted teeth.

"Hey buddy." Ulrich said to him from behind.

"Huh!?" The leader said as he turned just in time to see Ulrich spin kick and trip the leader to the ground. He landed with a painful thud and laid there on the ground while dropping the dagger. Ulrich grabbed it and gave it back to Kairaree.

"Thanks guys for everything." Kairaree said to him and his group as she took her dagger back.

"Good job kids, we'll take it from here." Traska said as a few other guards came to assist in the arrest.

But the leader was not done yet, he rolled from where he was and ran towards Aelita. He grabbed her and held her close while pulling out a knife and held it to her throat.

"Not again." Aelita said to herself in disbelief for having a knife held to her throat again.

"Alright listen, give me that dagger and I won't paint the street with this pink-heads blood." The young leader said holding the knife closer to her. The gang was frozen in place, for once again Aelita was being held hostage.

"Just give up, don't make this worse for yourself." Traska said aiming his gun at the thief.

"Go ahead and try your luck guard, or you can risk hitting this little pretty." The young thief said mockingly. But then he felt a tap on his shoulder. Surprised by the tap, he turned to see the shop keeper from earlier. "Oh no!" was all he said before she made her fist the last thing he saw before unconscious took him. The thief hit the ground leaving Aelita free from his grasp.

"Hey Lenjala, thanks for that." Traska said waving to his sister.

"I knew that man was no good." She replied while another guard came and put some cuffs on the thief while her brother took care of the rest.

"So now all I need to do is get a statement and you kids can go." Traska said as his other guards took the thieves away.

"Sure thing, how about we go back to your parents lodge and we will tell you everything." Kairaree said to the guard. They all made there way back to the lodge and after a lengthy explanation of what has happened, minus what the gang told her. The guard had what he needed to transfer the thieves to a prison system and an illegal bomb to seal the charges.

"So I guess this is good-bye then." Insula said to them as they stood outside the lodge.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay another night? It is a bit after noon." Serreasa asked them.

"Thanks, but we should go. We don't want to be anymore of a hassle." Yumi said to them.

"You guys were not the trouble, it was those thieves." The guard Traska said.

"It's all right, we need to get a head start before nightfall. So we have to get moving." Kairaree said to them.

"I see that your joining there group as well." Lenjala said to Kairaree.

"Looks like this groups getting bigger by the day." Aracane said to them with a chuckle.

"Well then take care and come by anytime young warriors." Insula said as they began to head out.

The gang said they're good-byes and Serreasa even gave each of them a hug and even their daughter Lenjala gave them a few supplies free of charge for their troubles. They all made they're way out of the towns main street where Kairaree entered and made they're way to a fork in the road not far from town, it was then that they stopped to have a quick word.

"So how do I do this again?" Kairaree asked them.

"Here, take the amulet and all you have to do is swear to join us." Aelita said giving her the amulet.

"Well a deals a deal. I swear to join your cause and stop Xana." She said. And as he finished, another gem light up, signaling the next warrior found, and the orb shinned bright and the arrow in the orb pointed in a new direction.

"We have our heading." William said with a smile.

"Let's go then gang." Odd said with joy.

"It looks like the arrows pointing down this road." Jeremie said pointing to the arrow.

"Then let's not waste another moment." Sam chimed in.

"Hey guys look, there's a long-bed truck coming." Aracane said pointing to the truck.

A rustic but sturdy truck with a long bed and crates in the back, the driver came to a stop and a human in the drivers seat poked his head out. "Hello there, you must be those warriors Traska told me about." The middle aged human driver said.

"Yes we are, but who are you?" Yumi asked.

"My names Tom, and Traska asked me to give you a lift if your heading down that road." He said while pointing to the road that the arrow happen to be pointing too.

The gangs luck once again came through. "Yes we are heading down the road. How far can you take us?" Jeremie asked.

"Well I got a few deliveries to drop off at a city, so I can take you that far, but if you need me to stop on the road to let you off, just let me know." Tom told them.

"Thank you so much for the lift, and tell Traska and his family thanks for us when you get back to town." Ulrich said to the driver as they all climbed in.

"Hey no problem, it's like they say, help people in need." He said quoting the elderly couples words. And so they all hopped into the bed and the driver rolled out. While they were on the road, it was then that Kairaree asked.

"So while Aelita's watching the amulet, why don't you guys tell me everything about your home planet and your battles with this Xana?" Kairaree asked her new group.

"It's a good thing we're in a truck to sit. So anyway, it all started in a boarding school we lived in. I was looking for some parts in a factory when-" Jeremie went on about their life on Earth and about all the things they did to save their world.

As the gang ride in the truck with they're new warrior and friend that has joined their growing companionship and warrior league. The gangs next warrior will be found in a small village a few hours away from the nice town, unaware of the hassle the next warrior would be and the new troubles they will get into before the next warrior joins.

**END CHAPTER.**


	7. LOOSE SWORDSMAN

**CHAPTER 7: LOOSE SWORDSMAN**

The gangs ride from the truck driver lasted for hours. The city must have been a long way away. After Jeremie gave they're new friend Kairaree, who has joined the group a long explanation of their adventures on Earth and the ways that they defeated Xana and his plots to take over they're world but held back on the heavy details so they can tell the all the warriors after they find them all. It was late afternoon when the arrow on the amulet turned on the path of another large dirt road. It was then that Aelita alerted them.

"Guys, the amulet is changing direction." Aelita said to them.

"Don't worry, I got this." Ulrich said heading to the back of the trucks drivers side. "Hey there, we would like to get off here!" He shouted giving the back a light bang.

The driver came to a slow stop and the gang hopped off the nice mans truck who gave them a lift. "Is this as far you kids need to go?" The driver Tom asked.

"Yeah we think this would be a good stop." Ulrich replied hiding their true agenda.

"Well okay then, you kids take care and stay strong. And always have each others back, so good-bye now." Tom said giving them a wave as he slowly drove off and the gang waved and said their good-byes as he slowly faded from site.

"So Aelita, we just need to follow this road?" Odd asked looking over to peer at the amulet.

"Looks that way, so let's just keep heading down this road." Aelita said pointing to the road ahead.

"Then let's not waste another moment." William added.

They made their way down the dirt road. All they have seen in the few hours of walking the road was forests and a few rural looking farm lands in the distance and some mountain ranges. The Earth born members were astonished by how similar this planet is compared to they're world. The birds looked similar but there were a few species that had different characteristics and as well as some rabbits and squirrels, and even a deer that was a lot like Earths. If a random stranger from Earth was dropped here unknowingly, it would take a long time before noticing the difference, which is how they felt at first.

"It's so neat how this world looks like ours, I can't really see the difference." Sam said to the group.

"I still can't believe there are humans on this planet too. I can see similar features as to how a planet has the same type of terrain and seasons to support life, but primate like species that are called humans and have almost the same features and characteristics like humans on Earth. I wonder how different or similar their D.N.A. Is compared to ours? It would be fascinating to see what the Earthera humans and our Earth humans genomes are like and-" But Jeremie's ramblings were finally interrupted.

"Jeremie pal, your one-man debate is giving us a headache." Odd whined with his hands on his ears.

"Maybe it's just too much for you Odd." Ulrich joked.

"I never knew you were into evolutionary science as well?" Yumi asked.

"I'm into a lot of science category's. It's just we never needed it other than computer science for fighting Xana." Jeremie replied.

"Just be glad that there are humans here so you guys won't have any trouble fitting in." Kairaree said to them.

"But we should still look into how different or similar we are to the Earthera humans. After all, what if we need a blood transfusion, and our D.N.A. is too different? And not to mention this planet must be loaded with all kinds of new diseases and viruses that we have no immunity's to. We could get exposed and our bodies are overwhelmed and we drop dead from a foreign exposure. Jeremie went on.

"You know he may have a point, we should find a clinic or hospital and see if we can get inoculations." Sam chimed in.

"We'll have to find a place that gives special treatment for wonders like us. My master told me about those places like that, as long as we have money." Aracane added too.

"Then let's hope one of the warriors is in a city or a place that has access to a hospital" William said secretly getting a little nervous of Jeremie's concerning issue.

"Fine then, now let's just drop the issue before we really do get sick or something." Odd said defeated by Jeremie's very good points.

"Alright then, good." Jeremie said happily. "But still it's fascinating how this planet has multiple sentient species, while ours only has one. I wonder what the time lengths of their evolutionary periods were. When did they start, who became fully evolved first? After all, our scientists have always theorized on the possibility of another planet having sentient life, but never have thought of a planet with multiple ones on the same planet and-"

"Jeremie, maybe you should keep it to yourself for now." Aelita said awkwardly.

"Boy I hope one of the other warriors has a deep interest in science too." Jeremie said to himself. After Jeremie calmed down with his scientific fascination of the planets many wonders that it held. The gang kept making they're way down the beaten path that is the wide dirt road with barley a sign or land-marking. The sun was finally coming down and the afternoon grew darker, it was then that Aracane stepped in.

"Hey guys, we should stop for the night I see a small clearing over there." He said pointing to a spot not far on the side of the road.

He's right, we will start again early in the morning." Kairaree said to them as well.

"So I guess this will be our first night out in the open?" William said.

"Let's get some firewood and settle in for the night. I'll show you guys how to make a fire." Aracane said while gathering some sticks while they were making they're way to the clearing.

"Good thing we have some food." Odd said getting some firewood too.

"We can eat after we're done getting some more firewood." Yumi said while getting some sticks too.

The gang gathered a large amount of sticks and leaves for they're fire. "Okay friends, here's how to start a fire. This is one of the simplest ways, first you get a piece of bark and put some leaves in the center and take a straight stick and drill the center to start a ember that will grow into a flame." Aracane went on until Kairaree interrupted.

"Not to be rude, but I actually have a few lighters so we can get this fire going." She said holding out the lighter.

"Well I guess we should always start a fire when we have an easy method." Aracane said taking the lighter and starting the fire up.

Their fire was quick to light and the gang finally had a age old need on dark nights like the one creeping in. "So now that's done, when do I get to meet this Guardian Warrior friend of yours?" Kairaree asked wanting to see this other realm visitor.

"To be honest we don't know. He said he will make his appearances when needed. It's not like he has a phone number to call him by." Aelita said.

"You got that right, can you imagine the charges if you tried to call someone from another realm?" Odd said while laughing lightly.

"I imagine the rates would be quite expensive." A familiar voice called out and in a bright flash, the kind ethereal being made his appearance to the gang. They were not this time as stunned when he first appeared to them, but now they were expecting it. Although Kairaree instinctively sprang up as if they were being attacked. "Be at peace young lady, your reaction time is very good, and it will be beneficial to your journeys together." GW said to her

Kairaree took a moment to get a full view of this new being that was with them. She looked at him in wonder to his shimmering armor and staff and his kind and welcoming appearance but looked like he was a very strong and powerful warrior too. "Wow, so your Guardian Warrior. The that has set us on this journey to fight this evil being called Xana?" She asked the other realm being.

"Yes my dear, although your friend Odd has come to calling me GW if that is better for you?" GW asked her.

"GW. I do like that as well. So what brings you here?" Kairaree asked him.

"I came to congratulate you all on finding the next warrior and your cooperation and unity on tracking and stopping those low-down thieves from stealing your important dagger" GW said to them proudly.

"Wait, you saw that?" Ulrich asked.

"Yes, we can peer into the events of this world and so on." GW answered.

"Are you watching us all the time?"Odd asked him curiously.

"More or less. But just remember, you have our blessing and the rest of the warriors will soon join your cause as well." GW said to Odd.

"Do you know where the rest of the warriors are?" Aracane asked.

"Not exactly, just as time, nothing is ever truly sure. And events will always create new paths to walk and follow." GW went on with his wise words.

"Well then _'Master Yoda' _when we get all the warriors, when do we fight Xana?" Odd said a little confused by GW's philosophical words.

"It's not that simple, even though Xana is your main enemy, I'm afraid you all will have many trials ahead of you, and many journeys to discover. As you know this world has many problems and Xana is not the only cause for the troubles it has." GW said.

"But we can't go around solving everyone's problems." William said.

"Trust me, there are events in motion that will lead you into the battles ahead. But as long as you are together, you will overcome because the battles ahead are all connected, and are apart of the prophesy that have been foretold." GW continued.

"Sounds like we got a lot of work to do huh?" Odd asked.

"Yes, but you can do it. Now I must take my leave." GW said as he turned.

"Wait, if you know we have many things ahead, then do you know what is so important about this dagger? I doubt those men tried to steal it because they liked it." Kairaree said pulling it out to show him.

He turned to look at the weapon she was holding. A look of interest shown on his face. "I'm sorry Kairaree. Although I have an idea, I can't tell you of what I know." GW simply replied.

"Why not? She's been carrying that weapon around for years not having a clue how important it is. Why can't you tell her?" Ulrich asked.

"It's not that simple, if I told you right away, it doesn't mean that it will turn out for the best. Exposing things before they come to pass can have terrible ramifications. If you know it, then it could have worse outcomes then it's original intentions and the consequences could be dire or change things beyond repair." GW told them.

"So then what do I do if you can't tell me?" Kairaree asked almost demanding.

"Calm yourself and be patient, and the answers will come. You all may not know, but each and everyone of you warriors have a very special task at hand, and is very vital to the powers growing in you. So stay strong and remember alone you are strong, but together there is nothing you all can't do. Now good-bye warriors, and I will see you again soon." GW said to them.

"_sigh,_ I understand. Thank you GW. And it was nice to meet you too, and I hope to see you again as well." Kairaree replied in cheerful tone returning.

"Then farewell warriors, and take care." He said as he walked off until in a flash of light, just as he came, he was gone and the gang were left alone again for the night.

"So now that you have met our supernatural friend, let's call it a night." Yumi simply said to them.

The gang stoked the fire and ate some of the dried meat packages that Kairaree have bought from the store owner earlier today. The gang told a few stories of they're life on Earth to they're new world friends and the things it had to offer, although they kept personal matters to themselves, like Ulrich's issues with his parents, or Yumi's parents and their shaky relationship.

William never really had any issues with his parents, although they were naturally upset with him being expelled from his old school, while Sam didn't have any problems with her parents, but her dad is a little overprotective of his daughter, while Odd is strangely a little annoyed by his parents being too supportive.

While Jeremie's relationship with his parents was what some people would call a textbook dream life, what with his mothers loving and trusting personality, and his fathers happy-go-life style. Aelita however didn't have anything to say, her mother was abducted when she was very young, and her father had to take her and run away to make anew with their life. But now it was a faded memory, and she secretly kept to herself that they were becoming more faded day after day. And it was becoming harder to keep track of the things she recovered from Xana.

It was around 9:00 or so until the gang retired for the night and took shifts. "I'll take the first few hours, anybody else wanna help too?" Aracane said to them.

"I will help you out first." Ulrich said, joining with Aracane.

"Okay then. Me and Sam will take you're place after a few hours." Yumi said to the boys while everybody else was settling in for the night on the soft grass in the warm night. A few more hours passed. Ulrich and Aracane didn't say much so they don't wake the others and kept the fire at a small flame until it was time to wake Yumi and Sam for their shift so they could get some sleep before the sun began to rise, starting a new day.

Day 3

On a small dirt road that was a long way from the gang. At a fork in the road with a small post with two crudely made wooden signs where one pointed to a village, and another path going further down the dirt road stood a young Molknuc teen who was looking very hard at the signs.

He was about the gangs age, his skin was a simple red with long dreadlock hair that was in perfect contrast with his skin that it was hard to tell where his head began, and his hair started. And it was also very messy with a few round metal clamps in various parts of his shoulder long hair.

He had a very gruff look in his face, as if he was ready for a fight at an given moment. His clothes consisted of a dusty heavy coat that had a short back with a very dark red shirt, a big belt and buckle, dull brown boots and very dark blackish-green pants with a few little chains around the waist which in the end, is clothes looked a little worn for wear.

On his back was long sword his people called a Kiljamik. It had a gray handle with a long garrote like wire on the handles end, and on the other end of the wire was a very small pendent with a gem in the center. The jewelery looked like it was once a necklace. The swords guard had prongs on the top and bottom part of the guard that could catch swords and other weapons. As for the blade, it was a dark gray, and the first few inches of the blade was straight, but then it dipped to make a deep curve until the tip of the blade was aligned with the other end, and the tip was larger and heavier, giving the sword better cutting power **(A/N: the swords form is some what similar to Vlad the Impaler sword from the Deadliest Warrior series, just to give you readers a better idea, but keep in mind the details I'm giving about the sword)** and his sheath had a saw blade pattern that was red and green, but was not shaped like the warriors sword because of its unique shape, it could not be sheathed normally like most other swords. It had to compensate by being larger so the sword could be held in and it had a strap that hung from the right side of his back, so it was in a perfect position to draw and attack.

The warrior stood at the fork in the road which seemed like a long time as the suns light was finally fully up. He was deep in thought as to which route to go, but after a lengthy time, he shrugged his shoulders and without saying a word, made his way into the village which could be seen in the far distance.

()()()()()()()()()

"Good morning guys, sleep well?" Yumi asked as the gang began to stir awake.

"Yumi, the next warrior is not going anywhere soon. So why do we need to get up so soon?" Odd said as he finally got up.

"Because the sooner we find the next warrior. The sooner we can find the next one, and the next one, and so on." Sam said mockingly.

"Thanks for keeping watch girls, I guess we all will be doing shifts when we are on the road." Ulrich said while stretching.

"No problem, me and Sam talked a lot to stay awake. But when we find the others, we will have more shifts." Yumi said to him.

"Well I got a few more dried goods if you guys want some. It will at least put some food in our bellies." Kairaree said holding out a few different bags to the gang while eating a strip as well.

"Thanks Kai, you're the best!" Odd said reaching for a bag.

"Let's just get going soon." William said ready to go.

"I just hope we find a village near by." Aracane said to the group.

"Even though we don't have any money on us." Jeremie added.

"Don't worry, we will figure something out." Ulrich said. "So Aelita, that arrow still pointing down the road?" Ulrich asked her.

"Yes it's still pointing down the road." Aelita replied as she looked at the amulet again.

"Good, so then let's move out." Ulrich said as they made their way back onto the dirt road. The warriors walked for a few hours until they started seeing more people on the road and even more farm lands closer to the road. The people had either horse-drawn carts, or simply carrying bails of harvest, and hand pulled carts, or just walking on the road. Like town before, nobody didn't pay much attention to the armed group. The gangs curiosity soon took over since they needed to know if there's a village or town near.

"Excuse me sir. Is there a place near by?" Ulrich asked a middle-aged Lizardin man wearing simple farm like clothes.

"Huh? Oh hello there young man, yes there is. It's a large village about an hour walk from here. I'm going in to get some farming supplies." The Lizardin man said to him.

"Great, thanks for the info." Ulrich said as he headed back to his group.

"Wait young lad, you're not going into the village are you?" The Lizardin man asked with concern.

"Yeah, why?" Ulrich asked looking back.

"The reason I don't live near that village is because it has all kinds of problems." He said.

"What kind of problems?" Yumi asked.

"That village is ruled by a cruel lord who runs the entire region, and if they see you warriors he might think you're up to something." He warned them.

"Don't worry, we can handle anything that comes our way sir. But thanks for the heads-up." Aracane said to the farmer.

"Well I warned you, so if it goes bad, just run away." The farmer replied as he continued on his path.

"Great, the next warrior might be in a town run by a cruel lord who doesn't like outsiders." William said frustrated.

"We'll just have to take our chances. We can't pick and choose the order or places the warriors are." Yumi replied to him.

"I have a feeling it's gonna be a long day." Odd said to them. They continued to make their way into the village until they finally found it. The village was quite large, not as large as the town they were in yesterday, although it was far more rustic and rural looking, it was almost as if they stepped back in time, but there were some power lines here and there.

"Okay, now that we are here. Whats the plan?" Jeremie asked the group.

"We should split up into groups. If this place doesn't like outsider, then us in a large group would draw too much attention." Yumi said to them all.

"But Aelita is the only one who has the amulet. How will we know if one of us finds the warrior and we don't know?" Odd pointed out.

"Think about it, this place won't have warriors like us, so we have to find someone who seems like an outsider as well." Yumi said to Odd.

"Plus the warrior will most likely be around our age, so that will narrow our search down too." Ulrich added in.

"Sounds like a good plan, how should we split?" Kairaree asked.

"How about this. Aracane, Aelita and Kairaree go in one group. Sam, William and Odd in another. And finally Yumi, Jeremie and me will split off. We will head in different directions and make our way back here by late noon. Sound good?" Ulrich said to his friends.

"Alright then guys, let's start searching." William said to them as they headed in different directions into the village. They're search was tiresome as the group searched the village while keeping to themselves in their small groups so as not to draw attention to themselves because the farmer was right. There was a number of men with katana like swords wearing dark loose sleeve kimono like tops with baggy pants and the villages insignia on the right top part of their vests.

"This town really seems dreary and depressed." Ulrich said to his group. They were in the towns center market.

"I guess that farmer was right, this village's lord is cruel." Yumi quietly said to him.

"The faster we find the next warrior, the faster we can get out, this place is making be nervous." Jeremie said, while staying in the center of his group.

()()()()()()()()()

On the other side of the village, in the villagers living area. "Why are we searching in this area again?" Odd asked his group.

"Because we can't rule out the possibility that the next warrior might also live in this town." Sam said to him as they looked around in the village's homes street that looked very old.

"Look at it this way. The next warrior might want to leave this town, I know I would." William said while keeping an eye out for the guards.

()()()()()()()()

Near the village's center river way. "Anything yet Aelita?" Kairaree asked her.

"No, the arrows still spinning around. What could it mean?" Aelita said while looking at the amulet.

"Maybe it's broken. Or the next warrior can run really fast?" Aracane said to his group.

"I doubt a mystical item can 'get broken' Aracane, maybe it just isn't... calibrated?" Kairaree said feeling a little foolish for that last sentence.

"Calibrated huh?" Aracane asked with a raised hairless eyebrow. They continued their search until the sound of someones stomach growl.

"Aelita, are you hungry?" Kairaree asked.

"I guess so, we started off in such a hurry I didn't have anything to eat." Aelita said a little embarrassed by her stomach.

"Well I'm out of food. Odd ate more then I thought." Kairaree said, wishing she didn't leave him alone with those bags.

"It's fine, I will be alright." Aelita said as her stomach lightly growled again.

"You're no good on an empty stomach. Hey look, there's a small tea house over there." Kairaree pointed to the hut like structure. "Here, I'll give you some money." She said giving Aelita a few bills.

"Oh no Kairaree, we will bleed you dry soon if we keep taking you're money." Aelita said holding her hands up in defense.

"It's fine, we're friends. And if you want, you can pay me back when you can, I know Odd will have to probably many times." Kairaree said giving her the money.

"Relax pink, we'll find this warrior and bring 'em to you. So just get you're fill." Aracane said.

"Well okay. And here, take the amulet. It's not pointing in that direction anyway." Aelita said as she gave Kairaree the amulet.

"Thanks, just relax and we will come get you later." Kairaree said taking the amulet.

Aelita made her way to the tea house that was in between several other building in what seemed like a small district for places to eat or buy stuff. She made here way into the building door which was a very heavy tarp like material that had a door behind it to lock-up when the place is closed.

Aelita entered the building that had a few customers in and was greeted by a young human waitress that showed her to a table in the back and gave her a menu. Aelita was quick to order a small pot of tea with cup and some biscuits to go with it. Her order was soon brought to her. As she enjoyed it, a young human man that was a few years older then her, followed by a human man that looked like he was very important, and five other human guards came in as well.

"Hey, give me some service in this dump!" The young man said sitting down at the long table in the middle of the room. He was wearing a coat that looked quite expensive, as well as his pants and shoes, and small stylish sunglasses. His blonde hair had black streaks and a few piecing in his ears and held a katana like sword.

"Young lord, why did you choose a place like this to dine?" The man said. He had his black hair pulled back into a pony-tail. He was wearing a blackish wraparound top with long sleeves and blackish pants with shoes that had two metal bars on the bottom, and a katana like sword at his hip.

"Well Mr. Markriu, I figure I need to know the whole town before my old man hands it over to me. So I need to look around if there are any places I want to tear down to improve this dump of a neighborhood." The spoiled young lord said out loud, not caring if the owners heard, knowing they can't do anything about it.

Aelita sat nervously, trying to ignore the rowdy young man.

()()()()()()()()

Near the villages bridge, by the riverbank stood a Aquamarin man begging to a human man in a well crafted horse drawn carriage with some guards. There was a crowd of people standing all around looking at the commotion. On one side Aracane and Kairaree walked into the crowd see what was going on.

On the other side of the crowd, Ulrich, Yumi, and Jeremie walked in followed by Sam, Odd, and William who saw the commotion from the other side of the bridge. Although they didn't see Aracane and kairaree on the other side because of the heavy crowd

"Please Governor, my crew and I need this construction job or we wont be able to keep our business." He begged to the lord, sitting in the carriage with the wooden side-window open smoking a long pipe. He inhaled deeply then breathed out and held his hand out to the construction worker. The Auqamarin man walked over and pulled out a few hundred dollar bills and gave the bribe money to him. The Governor took the money, but then a look of displeasure came across his face.

"You dare insult me with this chump-change of yours?!" He yelled throwing the money back at the construction Aquamarin man. "Guards, kill this insolent fool right away!" He commanded to his elite guards near him.

Aracane had enough of watching this cruelty. He slowly walked through the crowd until a Arachun man placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't, you may not like it. But just let it go. You see those men over there? They're elite bodyguards from the Deoso region, their called Tamyurai swordsmen." The villager said pointing to the men wearing light green kimono like cloths that had loose pants and long baggy sleeves, and each of them was carrying katana like swords. "They're famous fighters and in a league of there own, top notch. Not even the head Governor's guards are a match for them." He went on explaining.

But Aracane glanced over to the farmer and continued to walk out of the crowd not even worried about the elite guards. "And don't worry about your business and worker, I'm sure they will join you in the afterlife after they starve to death." The lord laughed at the downtrodden man who couldn't do anything.

"Move your heap, you're blocking the road." Aracane said walking in between the begging man and the guards.

"Is that so kid? Who the hell are you?" One guard demanded. "Just stay out of it punk and mind you're own damn business!" Another said.

"To serve your lord and do his bidding. Is that what you call honor?" Aracane asked the guards.

"_Humph, _of course it is kid." The head guard smugly said.

"Even if that lord is a worthless piece of shit?!" Aracane replied.

"You better watch that mouth boy!" One guard said while they all reached for their swords.

"To cut down an unarmed person who has done nothing wrong. Is that why you spent all those years honing your skills for. In my opinion your cowards and don't deserve to even wield a weapon." Aracane went on.

"That does it, kill the smart-ass now!" The head guard said.

The guards charged him with their swords drawn. Aracane's ax was already out and dodged the first mans strike and brought his ax down on the back of his head, killing him right away and kicked another one away. Then swung his ax downward across another ones stomach ending his life too. Blood splattered on Aracane's chest and continued to fight the guards as he dodged another swing from a guard and brought his ax down on him. He killed the man by chopping a few inches into his left shoulder, the guards screams of pain could be heard through the crowd and finally he struck down two more guards by cutting them across the chests, leaving deep and fatal gashes, and the last guard missed him and Aracane swung his ax again, decapitating the last guard as his body hit the ground.

The crowd was astounded by the quick skills of the large warrior, leaving the lord terrified and several of his low-level goons frozen in fear.

"I think this will be enough of a reward for my service sir." Aracane said taking a few bills that were on the ground, the man did not complain.

"Wa... wa... wait kid, hold on. Is it money you want? I'll give you money!" The lord stuttered in fear by his skills. "You can have as much as you want." But Aracane didn't even say anything, but gave him a deadly look. "You little bastard! You'll pay for this!" The lord said, getting out of his carriage and running away with his other guards following him. The people started vacating from the area before more guards came.

The whole gang saw Aracane's battle and finally managed to get to him. "Well it looks like our search will have to wait." Odd said to Aracane.

"I can't believe you killed them all, just like that." Jeremie said, looking at the lifeless bodies.

"It was either them or me. Besides, they were trash anyway." Aracane said justifying his actions.

"We can talk about that later. Right now we need to get back to the village entrance." Ulrich said.

"Wait, where's Aelita?" Yumi asked, noticing she wasn't with them.

"Damn, we left her in a tea hut and it's a bit away." Kairaree said to them.

"We have to go get her. More guards will be coming." Sam added.

"I'll go. You guys get out and I will get her." Aracane said running off without another word.

"Aracane wait!" William called. But he was already gone.

()()()()()()()()()()

In the tea house the young lord and his goons were getting more troublesome. They were harassing customers, breaking plates and cups, and just really being assholes. Aelita looked over at the man wishing her friends were here to stop them. Just then the door flap was pushed open and the Molknuc kid that was standing by the fork in the road earlier that day entered the diner. He walked in not paying any mind to the rowdy young lord sitting in the middle of the room. He sat down in a table next to Aelita not paying her any attention either. The waitress soon came up to take his order.

"Hello there, what can I get you?" she asked.

"Water..." He replied in a calm voice.

"Water? I'm sorry but we only serve paying customers." she said back.

"Well I don't have any money." He replied, getting a little angry.

"Then I'm gonna have to ask you to leave if you don't have any money." She replied, getting a little frustrated at him.

"Hey waitress, get your ass over here now!" The young lord called.

"Coming sir, please just leave if your not going to pay." The waitress said to him before going to the lords table.

Aelita looked over at the young Molknuc and couldn't help but wonder? "Hey, those guys over there. They causing trouble?" The Molknuc teen asked.

"Well they are being cruel to everyone." Aelita said to him.

"Fifty dumpling." He suddenly said.

"What?" Aelita asked wondering what he meant.

"Fifty dumpling, and I'll take care of them" He said again while pointing to the young lord.

"I don't have enough money, I maybe can get you twenty." Aelita suggested, holding up two fingers.

"Screw that, I'm not going one dumpling lower." The Molknuc teen said, leaning on the table.

"But-" Aelita tried to reason.

"Hey you girl!" The young lord said coming over to her.

"Um, yes?" Aelita asked nervously.

"You're quite pretty, and I've never seen a girl with your kind of hair, it's very pretty. Maybe we can have some fun?" The young lord said taking Aelita by the wrist and pulling her up.

"You can't just take me. Let me go now!" Aelita demanding while struggling against his grip.

"Nobody says no to me, understand girl? besides, I'm only a few years older then you if that's what you're worried about." He said smugly.

"That's not what I'm worried about you thug!" She angrily spat back.

"How dare you talk back to me like that. I am the son of the Governor of this region, and I always get what I want!" He said pulling her to their table.

Aelita was at a huge disadvantage, her friends were out of reach and she couldn't fight these men and all that Molknuc teen was doing was just sitting there looking off, not caring about what was happening. It was then she knew what she needed to do, she must sweeten the deal for him.

"100 hundred dumplings to stop these guys, deal?!" Aelita shouted to him.

"HUH?" The young lord and his men said confused by her sudden outburst.

"Now that's a deal. You hear that boys? You're lives don't mean dick, one hundred dumpling, that's like what? Ten guys a pop right?" The Molknuc teen said getting up and ready for a fight.

"Oh my, this is going to be a nightmare." The tea house owner said looking through the food pick-up opening.

"His math is way off." His wife said counting the teens inaccurate count.

"You got some nerve boy, do you have any idea who your messing with?" Mr. Markriu said stepping in front of him, drawing his sword. "I am the right-hand man of the Governor of this region, and nobody talks back to me. I've been wanting to try my brand new sword out anyway." He said as he attacked the Molknuc teen. He shouted with a mighty yell while swinging his sword down.

In one quick motion the Molknuc teen drew his sword and breaking the mans new sword and cutting off his arm just below the elbow.

"AAAAHHHHH!" He yelled in pure agony holding the bleeding stump and stumbling back just in time to see his severed arm hit the ground, still holding the broken sword.

"Pathetic, enough of that formal shit. I'll take all you bitches on!" The excited Molknuc teen shouted to the other men as well.

"Kill that kid!" One of them shouted, pulling they're swords out and as requested, came after him. They all tried to attack him at once, but he was too quick. He rolled out from under and kicked one of them aside then used the next ones momentum to roll on his back dodging his strike as he was coming at him. The teen was behind him and pulled the mans short sword at his hip out of it's sheath and stabbed him in the back. The blade went all the way through his chest killing him. Another one tried his luck but the teen ducked and sliced him across the throat ending his life.

"Come on, come on, is that all you guys got?" The Molknuc teen said with a huge smile on his face, as the others backed off, scared of his skills.

"You just don't get it, do you kid?" The young lord said sitting on a table bench, holding his sword in it's sheath under his hands for support, looking as if he already won. "My dad is the lord of this region and is always surrounded by elite guards called Tamyurai swordsmen, and they are complete badass. So if you mess with me then you mess with them." He smugly warned.

"Is that so?" The Molknuc teen said walking over to him. The lords cockiness soon faded as the teen walked over to him, looking down at him, making him very nervous.

"Ye-Yeah that's right punk. What you scared, did you pee your pants?" The lord said trying to put on a brave face.

"Actually quite the opposite. Give me your hand." The Molknuc teen said with a smile.

"Wha-what?" The young lord asked.

"I said give me your damn hand!" The teen demanded again. The young lord slowly raised his right-ring covered hand. The teen grabbed it, and used his thumb to hold the young lords palm, and his other fingers to hold the back of his hand. "Listen dumb-asses, you're not worth the time of day. So you go get those badass while I count with his fingers, that's how long you got to get back. Now let's start with the pinky." The teen said to the guards as he begin to snap his fingers back.

"One..." He counted, breaking the pinky. _Snap..._ "Yyeehhhaa!"

"Two..." He counted again, breaking the ring finger. _Snap... _"Ahhhh-hhhaa!"

" And three..." He counted again, breaking the middle finger. _Snap... _"Oh god, aahhh!" The young lord yelled between snaps while trying to struggle out of the teens tight grip.

The guards having enough of watching their young lords fingers being broken, ran out to get the elite guards before all the young lords fingers were broken. The guards ran out into the street and almost bumping into Aracane as they ran off. Aracane looked at them in confusion before shrugging it off and hurried into the tea house.

"You're boys better hurry before I run out of fingers." He said to the crying young lord. "Aw what the hell, we'll do the toes too." He smiled. Aelita was stunned by the teens uncontrollable violence and thinking to herself if she got more then she bargained for. Just then Aracane walked into the tea house.

"Aelita, thank goodness, we need to get out of town now!" Aracane said to her.

"Hey! You one of those badass guards, huh?" The Molknuc teen asked.

"Wait, what?" Aracane said confused at the guys sudden question.

"Alright then!" The Molknuc teen said, as he ran at him and attacked. Aracane was quick to defend himself from his assault. The battle was on, both of them attacking and blocking each others swings while Aelita tried to stop them.

"No wait! He's with me and my other friends." Aelita cried, but the Molknuc teen was too caught up in the heat of battle and Aracane dared not get distracted.

**(A/N: This fight would go good with some hip-hop beats)**

Both of their attacks were quick, missing each other by inches. The Molknuc teen dropped down and tried to kick Aracane from under, but he jumped out of the way and tried to bring his ax down on him. The Molknuc teen ran around the corner to the higher level of the dining area followed by Aracane. He jumped on the table while swinging at him, leaping from table to table until he got to the fifth table and jumped down and flipped the tablr on it's side, stopping Aracane in his tracks.

He jumped over the table taking a swing at him but missed. He was about to come in contact with the load-bearing post near them and used his foot to spring off and swing his sword down on Aracane, but he blocked and shoved him off and the Molknuc teen ran off into the kitchen door with Aracane right behind him.

The owners and a few of the customers and Aelita looked in disbelief of the battle that they just witness. Just then a loud thud was heard and everyone looked to the source. The man know as Mr. Markriu kicked over a large clay jar of lamp oil with a crazed look on his face.

"Mr. Markriu, What are you doing?" The young lord asked while holding his broken fingered-hand.

He laughed slowly with a lit lighter in his hand. "Burn it all... Burn it all to the ground!" He shouted with his madness showing and threw the lighter to ground and lighting the building on fire. The owners, the waitress, and the few customers who stayed to watch, and Aelita, quickly made they're way out as the building was already engulfed in flames. She made it outside with everybody else, her friends came into view to find her.

"Aelita thank god your alright." Jeremie said being the first one to see her.

"What the hell happened here?" Kairaree asked.

"Where's Aracane?" Odd added.

"He's inside, and this whole thing is a long story. Kairaree quick, give me the amulet." Aelita said holding out her hand.

"Don't you think that this is not the time?" Willaiam asked.

"Just trust me." Aelita said taking the amulet and held it to the burning building. "I knew it! He's the one." She said looking at the amulet, her emerald eyes went wide as she now knows what she was thinking is true.

"Wait. What do you mean the one?" Sam asked as they all looked at the amulet.

"The warrior fighting Aracane is the warrior we been looking for." Aelita said while they all looked at the nearly gone tea house with the other building that caught fire as well.

"Did you say fighting Aracane?" Ulrich said realizing what she said.

"You really got at lot to explain." Yumi said to her.

The whole building was on fire, but that didn't stop the fight the Molknuc teen started, and Aracane had to defend himself. Aracane managed to tackle the Molknuc teen and slam him through the wall into the next building from the weakened wall caused by the fire. As they fell through, they flipped and landed on there feet, exchanging a few swings, barely missing each other.

"This is great, I can't imagine a better place!" The Molknuc teen said with a smirk.

"Aren't you gonna run?" Aracane asked even though knowing the answer.

"Nah, but go ahead, don't wait on my account." He replied.

They stood their ground and then dashed at each other and they're weapons clashed as the top of the roof started to collapse around them with the flames still burning strong.

()()()()()()()()()

Hours passed till the night came. The gang to refuge in the tea house owners home the two old couple kindly offered. The gang sat in the living area to think of a plan to break their friend Aracane and the other warrior out.

"I still can't believe that lunatic is the next warrior we're looking for!" William said in disbelief.

"He sounds wild and unpredictable too." Sam added.

"But the problem is, he's the chosen one." Yumi pointed out.

"But now Aracane and that new guy are prisoners, and we can't get to them." Jeremie also added.

"The question is, how do we get them out?" Odd said trying to think of a plan.

"Let's try to break them out tonight and leave town. It may be our only chance." Kairaree suggested.

"It will be risky, but we do have to try." Ulrich said as they all began to leave and head to the prison area.

"Just don't forget, we still need to convince him to join us, so we defiantly have to try and break them out. I have an idea." Aelita said coming up with a plan.

()()()()()()()()()

Flames surrounded them as they stood their ground in the burning building. "This place is starting to come down." The Molknuc teen said as the flames got higher. Just then his sword caught on fire, then his left arm. "What... what the hells going on?" He shouted as he looked over to see Aracane sitting in a giant pot filled with water, completely naked. The Molknuc teen then realized his long dreadlock hair caught on fire too. "Ow fuck! that's cold! Wait... cold?" He said as he soon came back to reality.

()()()()()()()()

A cold splash of water hit him in the face and woke him up from his dream. "What the fuck happened?" He said asking no one in particular.

"You don't remember?" Aracane asked seeing that he and himself were tied up. They were both hanging from a rope tied to a beam of the roof in the prison area near the lords large home, where a few guards stood looking up at them.

"I remember a dream. There was fire all around me." The Molknuc teen said to Aracane.

"It wasn't a dream." Aracane said.

"Oh... so you were in a bathtub with your thing hanging out?" The Molknuc teen asked with a little chuckle.

"Now that was a dream." Aracane replied, not knowing what the hell he meant.

"Too bad it wasn't a dream, my son burned to death in that fire and you punks are gonna pay." The lord said to them.

"Hold on pal, it was your right-hand man who set that place on fire." The Molknuc teen said to the lord while struggling against his rope.

"I will deal with him later when we find him, but in the end your the one who set that chain of events in motion." The lord said to the Molknuc teen. "And you killed some of my best men you muscle-bond brute, so that demands retribution." The lord said pointing to Aracane. "Tomorrow afternoon, you will both be executed to set an example for any other outsiders that cause trouble." He continued.

"You really are a piece of shit. Executing us in broad-daylight. If you ask me, it would be embarrassing to show everyone that a bunch of teens got the best of you and you're men." Aracane sneered to him.

"You know I agree with you for once." The Molknuc teen smiled at him.

"Silence you fools! Take them to their cells and get ready for tomorrow." The lord said walking off to retire for the night. The guards cut them down but kept some swords at them so they don't try anything and lead them to they're cells for the night, pushing them hard into the cell and slamming it shut behind them. They were weak and exhausted from smoke inhalation and dehydration, so they took their places on the beds opposite of each other. The only light in the room was from the planets moons high in the air. They sat down with their backs against the wall, giving only a few glances.

"You're the lowest of the low." Aracane suddenly said.

"What was that you bastard?" The Molknuc teen demanded, getting pissed again.

"You're fighting styles a horrid mess, you're stances too wide, and your attacks leave you open for a fatal counterattack. All and all your fighting styles atrocious." Aracane went on.

"Kiss my ass!"

"And... you're the only one I wasn't able to beat." Aracane said almost as if he was praising him.

"Knulgen Fragrou's the name." He said, giving his name.

"Knul-gen, Fra-grou. In that case my name is Aracane Venlomus." He introduced back.

()()()()()()()()

Outside the prison entrance stood a guard and Kairaree was talking to the man. "Please sir, I need to see them." She pleaded.

"No way, my orders are to not let anybody in." He said with crossed arms.

"Please I'll do anything." she asked again.

"Anything huh?" He said with a smirk.

"Right, this isn't working. Guys!" Kairaree called to the side.

"What!?" He said looking to the side to see Ulrich charging at him and knocking him out cold with his swords sheath.

"Thanks Ulrich, that guy was obviously a pervert." She said reaching for the keys and taking them. The rest of the gang came into view and followed Ulrich and Kairaree into the building and down the many holding cells and finally found Aracane and they're new warrior. They walked down the prison hall looking in cell to cell until they found them.

"Aracane. Are you all right?" Yumi asked him looking into his cell.

"Guys what are you doing here? It's dangerous to be here, I don't want you getting caught as well" Aracane said to them.

"It's fine, we'll get you out." Sam said.

"Here William, you open the lock and I'll keep watch." Kairaree said giving him the key.

"This lock is kind of messed up." William said trying to unlock the lock.

"Friends of yours too?" Knulgen asked.

"Excuse me, I know this is a bad time but we've been looking for a warrior like you." Aelita said to him looking in to the cell.

"His names Knulgen by the way." Aracane said, just to get that out to them.

"Hey your the girl from the tea house." Knulgen said pointing to her. "And what the hell are you talking about?" He asked.

"It's a long story, but now let's get you out of here first." She said, but then suddenly they heard a snap.

"Uh guys... I broke the key." William said skittishly.

"Oh just great!" Jeremie said outloud.

"Do we have another plan?" Odd asked.

There they are, get them!" A guard shouted while other guards followed him.

"We got to bounce now!" Ulrich said getting ready to run.

"Just get out of here, we'll be fine." Aracane said shooing them away.

"I promise we will get you out, just hold on." Aelita said as they retreated out of the building and back to the tea house owners home after loosing the guards.

"Okay you got some explaining to do. What the hell was she talking about?" Knulgen asked.

"It's a long story, so it's a good thing we have all night." Aracane said as he sat back down and told Knulgen everything about him and his friends and they're fate.

DAY 4

The morning came and the people of the village stood around the villages town center, where a man who worked for the lords guards announced a execution. "The criminals that killed the lords son will be executed at noon and their heads will be put on display for all to see!" He announced to the towns people while the others of the gang stood in the crowd listening to the announcement. After he was done, the people left and went on with they're business. The gang thought up a new plan that will be sure to work to save Aracane and the new warrior,

"So we know what to do, and how to pull it off, right guys?" Ulrich asked the remaining gang as they stood near the town after the crowd died down and went on with there day.

"Can we talk about our part again?" Kairaree asked him.

"You girls can do it. We will be waiting by the lords home entrance." William encouraged the girls.

"Why don't you just have us get naked instead?" Sam said sarcastically.

"You know a few pretty faces asking will work better." Odd said with a smile.

"Just remember guys, there will be many guards, so you guys have quite a fight ahead of you." Jeremie said to them.

"Easy for you to say, you just need to be ready to run after we get them out." William said to him.

"Don't forget to find a huge ladder for the girls, William." Ulrich reminded him.

"Alright guys, let's go back to the tea house owner's home and wait until noon and then we will free our friend and new warrior, so let's go." Aelita said as they went back to their base in a sense.

The noon sun was near and the gang said they're final good-byes to the tea house owners and headed to their objectives. William went to find a ladder, and the girls went to a fireworks store for their distraction plan. And the rest went to the lords home to get ready for their part.

Aracane and Knulgen were given a measly last meal and then roughly escorted to the large rectangle shaped courtyard with high walls and slanted roof shingles in front of the lords large home, with a few trees where a large mat with two blocks laid with baskets in front of the blocks.

()()()()()()()()()

In the fireworks shop where the girls went. "Please sir, we need them." Yumi asked the Cataranion owner.

"No way, not at that price, these things are very powerful." He replied with his arms crossed.

"But face it, how many people need that kind of fireworks that are practically bombs?" Sam asked pleading, playing her part too.

"It's a fair price, maybe not what you want, but still better than nothing." Aelita added.

The girls all looked at him pleadingly. "I must be the biggest sucker in the whole region. Fine, take them and go before I change my mind." He said giving in.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" Kairaree said leaning over the counter to hug him. She quickly gave the money to him and each of the girls took two round clay balls around the size of melons with fuses at the tops. And they ran out to get ready for there part at the courtyard.

()()()()()()()

William was looking around the town, knowing time was the essence. He finally found a wide ladder where two people can climb up at once. It was set up where two men were working on a roof of a store. He didn't like the idea of stealing, but he knew his friends would do it for him if he was imprisoned. He ran up to the tall ladder and took it before they noticed. "I'm so sorry sirs, but I really need this ladder!" William shouted to them as he took it down and ran off.

"What the hell kid, comeback here with that now!" One of them shouted, but William was already gone.

()()()()()()()

The rest of the gang was in the crowd not far from the main entrance to the courtyard where a few guards were standing in front to keep the crowd at a comfortable distance. Ulrich and Odd stood ready for the distraction, while Jeremie was at the back of the crowd ready to run when they spring Aracane and Knulgen, because he wasn't a fighter and he secretly felt terrible for not being able to fight with them, but there was no time for that now, for he must be ready.

()()()()()()()()

William met up with the girls on the side of the courtyard wall for they're part. "Good job William on getting the ladder, we'll take it from here." Yumi said to him.

"Okay thanks, I'll join Ulrich and Odd at the front an-" But William stopped and got a good look at them, noticing Yumi and Sam's chests were larger. "Umm, Yumi, Sam. Did you have a 'growth spurt' or something?" He shyly asked.

"Don't give us that look, Kairaree didn't have anymore room in her satchel for the firework bombs." Yumi said to him with a serious look on her face.

"Plus a few girls running around with firework bombs would draw suspicion." Sam said, making a good point.

"Right, right I see." He said, rubbing the back of his head looking slightly away. "Well I got to get to my part, so good luck." He said running to join the others.

"Okay then, I got the light, so let's go" Aelita said, as they climbed to the top, keeping out of sight.

()()()()()()()()()

Aracane and Knulgen were shoved to their knees in front of the chopping blocks. "So, are you at peace with yourself" Aracane asked him.

"Hell no, I'm not ready to die. But I do often ask myself, will this be that last day I look at the sun!" Knulgen replied to him, while looking at the high sun.

"For they're crimes, the criminals will be executed at noon and their heads will be put on display for all to see to serve as a warning for anyone who disturbs the peace." The announcer called out to the crowd.

"Warrior Aracane, and vagrant Knulgen. Are you ready to grovel at my feet? Are you ready to beg for your life? If you do, I might consider sparing your lives." The ugly lord said to them with a smug smile on his face waiting for their answer.

"If living means having to bow to a fuck-head like you? Then I rather die on my feet with my head held high!" Knulgen said with pride.

Aracane laughed a little at his statement. "Well said, for once I agree with you." Aracane said with a smile.

"Fine, if that's what you want, then so be it!" The lord said as two of his men walked over to get ready to execute them.

"Wait! Although I won't beg for my life, I will however ask that as a Spardarac warrior. I request that I be killed by my own ax instead." Aracane demanded.

"If he want's to be offed by his weapon, then so do I." Knulgen said too.

"Humph, fine then. I suppose it would be fitting to end your life by your own weapons. Guards, take their weapons and execute them." He ordered to the two guards beside him, holding the warriors weapons and brought them to the guards performing the execution and gave it to them.

They were shoved to they're knees and their heads pushed down to the blocks. Knulgen was the first to be executed, the guard raised Knulgen's sword over his head and swung it down.

Knulgen flipped forward out of his swords blade just in time and did a break-dance like spin kicking his sword out of the mans hands. The guards were stunned by his escape giving Aracane a chance to flip and knock the man holding his ax down and retrieving it and using it to cut himself free and Knulgen as well with his sword, they both joined up with each other, back to back, ready to fight the massive amount of guards in the courtyard.

"Now this is what I call a fun fight, let's see who can take out the most." Knulgen said challenging him.

"You intend to kill them all? I swear, you are the lowest of the low." Aracane said to him as the guards attacked.

They split off to give them room to fight. The guards were many but both the warriors were striking them down with deadly blows. Aracane's ax was killing the guards with unrelenting force against guard after guard that surrounded him trying they're luck to kill him, while Knulgen ran around, swinging and killing guard after guard in front of him.

"You bastards! Don't think you're getting out of here alive!" The lord said as he cowardly ran farther from the fight, hiding behind his guards.

Aracane was making his way to the lord while killing any of the guards in front of him, while Knulgen jumped onto the lower roof for a better vantage point, and ran a few meters across before jumping down and killing two guards before catching up to Aracane.

()()()()()()()()()()

"We need to get ready now girls!" Yumi said to them as they watched the battle.

"Hey you girls. What are you doing up there?" A guard shouted while a few others were climbing up with him.

"I guess it's now or never." Kairaree said, reaching into her satchel for her bombs as well as Aelita, and Yumi reached into the top of her kimono like top pulling out her bombs and Sam reached under her top for her bombs. The guards stopped climbing, stunned by the dangerous fireworks they had.

()()()()()()()()()

Aracane killed the three guards in front of the lord who was backed against a tree while several guards stood around them, too far to get to they're lord in time.

"Wait! Wait! Please! I'll give you whatever you want, money, gold, jewels, even power, just name it!" The lord begged, finally showing his true colors.

"For you're sake, I hope the gods forgive your rotten soul. Because I wont!" Was all Aracane said as he swung his ax into the lords chest, killing him right away.

Aracane and Knulgen joined each other again, back to back as more guards came.

"What a pain in the ass. they're like cockroaches!" Knulgen said to him.

"Hey, look up there, it's my friends." Aracane said pointing to Yumi and the other girls.

()()()()()()()()

On top of the roof the girls held the bombs fuses together, while Kairaree used her tail to told the long pipe-like lighter and lit all the fuses at once. The guards slid of the roof knowing how powerful those bombs were. The girls stood up and threw the bombs into the courtyard, making sure they weren't to close together. The bombs rolled off and landed in the courtyard surprising the guards that were near the bombs and irking Aracane and Knulgen's curiosity as to what the round things were.

**KABOOOOOM!**

The bombs went off with an ear-shattering bang. The colors from the fireworks blinded the guards, sent the town people running and even knocking down a few guards who were close to the shockwave and having the rest run around in fear from the large sparks and fire flying all over the place.

Ulrich, Odd and William ran into the courtyard after the villagers ran away. "Aracane, Knulgen,this way, hurry!" Ulrich called out while Odd and William knocked down a few guards trying to stop them.

"Now's our chance, let's go!" Aracane said as they ran out into the street with the other guys, while the girls caught up with them.

The gang was finally whole again with a new edition to the group. They kept running until they found a spot for them to catch they're breaths.

"We can't stay long, more will be coming." Ulrich said to them.

"Well thanks for the rescue, but now I got to go." Knulgen said as he started to walk away.

"Wait we need you in our group, you see-" Aelita started.

"Sorry, the big guy told me everything and I'm not interested." Knulgen said turning to her

"I figured you of all guys who love to fight would love the idea of it." Aracane said to him.

"That Xana guys your problem, not mine. I got a score to settle with someone anyway." Knulgen slightly muttered.

"But we can't stop him without all the warriors, we need to be whole to end him for good." William said, trying to convince him.

"Like I said, not... my... problem." Knulgen replied as he continued to walk.

"Great, what do we do now?" Yumi asked her friends.

"What can we do?" Jeremie added.

Aelita thought to herself for a moment, until a clever idea came to her. "You know guys, he's right. We don't need him, we can stop Xana ourselves." Aelita said to her friends.

"Aelita, what are you talking about?" Sam asked her surprised.

"I mean, I can understand him being afraid..." Aelita said, saying the last part a little louder, stopping Knulgen in his tracks.

"What was that?" Knulgen said, turning his head slightly.

The gang finally realized what she was doing, reverse psychology.

"You're right Aelita, we need real warriors anyway to fight Xana" William said, joining in.

Knulgen quietly growled at them as he fully turned around to them.

"And Xana is very powerful, so someone like him wouldn't even stand a chance against Xana anyway." Odd said pointing his thumb to Knulgen.

"Let's go guys. I'm sure we'll find the next warrior somewhere." Ulrich said. As they all started walking away from him.

"Now just wait a damn minute! I am a real warrior, and if you babies really need me that bad, then fine! I'll join you. Where's that damn amulet, Aracane told me about?" Knulgen said, marching over to them and holding his hand.

"Here you go warrior." Aelita said giving him the amulet with a smile.

"Okay, I swear to join your cause. And... I will be the first to take out this Xana guy, before the rest of you." Knulgen said all cocky. Another gem on the amulet lit up signaling the next warrior has been found, and the arrow pointing in a new direction.

"Well now that that's settled, on to find the next one." Aelita said to the group and new member.

"There they are, get them!" A guard shouted as many others followed.

"Looks like the next warrior will have to wait, Let's get out of this village!" Ulrich said as they all ran.

"Head to the other side of the village, the arrows pointing that way." Aelita said to her friends.

"Come on Jeremie, hold on." Aracane said grabbing him.

"Oh not again!" Was all Jeremie could say as Aracane he held him under his arm again.

"Well guys, we found our next warrior, we overthrown a cruel lord, and started a riot, and it's only been four days." Yumi said to them.

"I can only imagine what's next?" Sam added.

"Don't worry Sammy, we can do anything as long as we stick together and not get caught in a fire." Odd said referring to Aracane and Knulgen.

"Then let's get out of this village and never look back together." William said as the guards followed them.

"It seems like you guys really draw a bunch of trouble. I think I might actually like this group after all. Especially if It means fighting a lot!" Knulgen said with a smile.

The warriors all ran out of the other side of the village with the guards behind them and back onto the large dirt road. After a while the guards finally gave up the chase and the gang finally could rest easy and go on to the next warrior and to they're next adventure, not knowing that their business with the village wasn't done yet. For a recently made one-armed man was plotting his revenge.

**END CHAPTER.**


	8. ONE-ARMED REVENGE

**CHAPTER 8: ONE-ARMED REVENGE**

The gang had ran for hours from the village and it's angry guards until they finally lost them and continued to run for a few more hours until the sun began to set for the night.

"Okay guys, I think we can stop now. Those guards quit a long time ago." Odd said to the running group.

"Yeah I guess your right Odd." Ulrich said to him and the others.

The gang finally slowed down and caught their breaths from running for several hours. They looked for a small spot to find a place again for the night and rest their aching leg muscles.

"It doesn't hurt to be sure, you know. We'll have to do shifts again tonight." William said slowly while catching his breath.

"So I guess we are sleeping outside again?" Jeremie said, fixing his glasses from being carried for hours.

"I like sleeping outside under the stars anyway." Knulgen said with his hands behind his head.

"It is a good night for star gazing." A familiar voice called out to them as a bright light formed into the one known by Odd as GW appeared. "Amazing, simply amazing. You warriors have found yet another warrior and-" He tried to finish but.

"Whoa! What the hell is that guy!" Knulgen shouted as he draw his sword and attacked GW.

"Knulgen stop, he's not an enemy!" Aelita shouted to him.

But knulgen didn't hear as he swung his sword wildly at GW, but he was no match for him. GW kept simply side-stepping from Knulgen's sword without any effort. GW finally decide to block Knulgen's attacks, he blocked with perfect counters with his staff. Up, down, left, right, no matter where he strike, Knulgen couldn't make contact against the ethereal being. Finally the last swing was blocked by the very bottom of his staff, which was impossible, or at least impossible by mortal standards. GW knocked the sword out of Knulgen's hand and tripped him with his staff, as Knulgen hit the ground, GW pulled his sword out and held the bottom of his staff on one side of his neck and the blade of his sword at the other side of his neck.

Knulgen looked in disbelief, as for the first time in a long time he was beaten, and it was definitely a long time.

"Are you finished?" GW said, looking at him with a smirk. "You have a strong fire in you, and a ironclad will and determination to fight no matter what. And your fighting style is unique in it's own way. But you need to know when your beaten, and you need to know that not all fight's can be battled alone, and you must accept a friends help. I will let you up now" GW said, removing his weapons from Knulgen's neck and he then flipped up onto his feet, a little angry for losing.

"Damn it Knulgen, I told you about him last night." Aracane said with his hand to his face.

"Well sorry! I'm not used to people popping out of nowhere." Knulgen said as he sheathed his sword and walked a little away from them.

"So GW, what brings you here this time?" Yumi asked.

"Nothing much, I just wanted to check up on you and congratulate you on the next warrior." GW said to her.

"GW, not to complain, but how can this guy be the next warrior? He's a loose cannon and completely arrogant, how are we supposed to work with this guy?" William asked him.

"Will's right, he's got no self-control and is hard to deal with." Odd added in.

"And he doesn't know the meaning restraint." Aracane chimed in.

"Kiss my ass." Knulgen shouted to them.

"I know he seems... difficult, but the amulet is never wrong. He just needs good friends to show him the right path and help him in your battles ahead." GW said to the group while looking over to Knulgen who wasn't paying attention.

"I hope your right GW." Sam said, still unsure of they're new addition.

"He is a good person, just rough around the edges, but he will one day show that he is a honorable and kind warrior." GW told the doubtful warriors.

"Okay, we'll give him a chance, but he needs to do his part too." Ulrich pointed out.

"He will, just wait and see. Now I must leave, I will see you again soon." GW said as he started to shine away "Farewell Knulgen, and remember what I taught you" He said calling out to him.

Knulgen looked over and just said. "Catch you later, and next time I want a rematch." He said looking over to GW.

GW simply nodded and in a flash he was gone from site. Kairaree and Aracane already had a fire going while GW was talking and they all settled in for the night. As the gang lied down for the night, suddenly green lights began to illuminate all around them.

"Oh wow, fireflies!" Sam said, looking at the glowing bugs.

"This place is full of them, how will we get to sleep?" Odd asked them.

"Hey, fireflies are a good sign, it means good luck will happen when they appear like this." Aracane said too Odd.

"This is a beautiful sight." Yumi said looking at the bugs as if she was stargazing.

"Yeah, you sure are." Ulrich quietly said.

"What Ulrich?" Yumi asked him, mishearing what he said.

"Uh... yeah these bugs are a beautiful sight." He replied nervously. "I will take first shift tonight." He continued as he got up to take his post.

"Hey Ulrich I'll join you as well, since I'm still wide awake." William said as he joined him.

"Sleep tight guys, tomorrow is another day." Kairaree said to her friends.

"Let's just find those other warriors and kill this Xana bastard and get it over with." Knuglen said laying the back of his hands on his head.

"Good night Aelita, and good job on finding our next warrior." Jeremie said to her.

"And good night to you too Jeremie, and thanks." Aelita said while looking at the firefly's that flown all around them. Aelita looked at the bugs in wonder until one flew on her hand. She lifted her hand close to her face and looked at the bug as it glowed the same green color as her eyes until it flew off and into the night sky as she closed her eyes and fell into sleep under the green night glow.

()()()()()()()()()()

In a dark and dreary prison, in the rural area not far from the village the gang had left earlier that day. A familiar man with his right arm from below the elbow recently off, was being led by a Lizardin cell-keeper, who was escorting him to a very special holding cell, on the far end of the prison.

"What do you want with this... man? He's gonna be executed anyway." The cell-keeper asked.

"Don't worry about it, just take your bribe and let him out." The man know as Mr. Markriu ordered.

"But he's dangerous, and if he's let out, who knows what he'll do." The cell-keeper pleaded.

"It's like they say, you got to fight fire with fire. And besides," Mr. Markriu said as held out his stump.

"My right arm is screaming, it's saying I have to kill those bastards and get rid of them for good. Now open the cell." He said to the stunned cell-keeper.

The cell-keeper slowly unlocked the door and quickly stepped back as far as he could from the door.

Mr. Markriu entered the cell and looked over to a large covered body laying in the corner looking at the wall, with a hood over his head. "Good evening there... Wrageno is it? I admire that fierce face of yours. A face more terrifying then any beast. You may not know, but you and I are two of a kind. Fact is were so alike we could be brothers. So let's go take them out, you and me, let's annihilate all who tormented you." He said with a crazed smile.

The mans eyes went wide with a terrible memory. His memory brought back a place in a small farm land. He was hunched over in fear as soldier like men were yelling terrible things at him and throwing torches and rocks all around the large man as one of the many traumas that have plagued the man known as Wrageno.

He stood up from his bed, an unspoken agreement to Mr. Markriu's offer. The man Wargeno was an Arachun and was over seven feet tall, he wore ragged clothes that people could still tell hid a hideous and deformed body underneath, and his face was the worst. One side near his right eye was bulbous and his other side had long and uneven marks, his jaw was misshaped and showed a few of his crooked teeth, and his forehead had all kinds of indents.

"Wonderful, you and I will have our revenge." Mr. Markriu said happily.

DAY 5

The sun rose and the gang was awoken and started their day anew. Knulgen stomped out the embers of the fire they made that night and headed back on the road to see if there was any place to eat.

"Okay now I don't have very much money left, so Aracane and Knulgen, I need you two to reach deep into your pockets and pull out any money you have on you." Kairaree said to the guys.

"Hey wait a damn minute, what about those guys?" Knulgen said, pointing to the Earth born members.

"I told you, they come from another planet and have only been here for less then five days." Aracane said to the forgetful Molknuc.

"And even if they did have money from their planet with them, it would be worthless here." Kairaree added in "Now, ready? One, two, three." She said as her, Aracane, and Knulgen pulled they're hands out of their pockets and open their palms to show only her with a few more bills, Aracane with loose change, and Knulgen with one coin and two acorns.

"Aww that's it? Nothing else?" Kairaree said disappointed.

"Hey dude, are you sure your not holding out?" Knulgen asked suspiciously.

"Look who's talking, what the hell is with the acorns?" Aracane asked.

"Ggrrr!" Knulgen growled as he ran in the middle of the road and was about to pull out his sword while Aracane met him in the middle of the road ready to pull out his ax.

"Now stop it right now you two, fighting wont solve anything." Yumi demanded, mostly Knulgen.

"Especially on an empty stomach." Odd said.

"Knulgen, you promised that you would help us fight Xana. So put your sword away and let's go." Aelita said, being the voice of reason.

"Fine, but before we go, what does this Xana guy look like anyway?" Knulgen asked as he sheathed his sword, before it was fully drawn.

"Yeah I have been meaning to ask what this Xana guy looks like as well?" Kairaree asked them.

"Well on Earth they fought a ghost like entity, but GW said he has a body, and they don't know what it looks like." Aracane said to them before turning to the Earth born group "Is there any other thing we can use to identify him?" Aracane asked his Earth friends.

"Actually, we do have something to use, his symbol." Ulrich said to them.

"Ill draw it." Odd said as he picked up a stick and began to draw Xana's eye in the dirt road.

"Practically every time he attacked, his symbol would be shown. Either in the eyes of a possessed human or animal. And on everyone of his monsters in Lyoko, that symbol is his calling card." Jeremie informed as Odd finished drawing a well detailed Xana symbol.

Their new friends took a good long look at it to memorize it into there minds. "For an evil being, his symbol is very plan." Aracane said unimpressed..

"At least it's easy to remember." Kairaree pointed out.

"So we just got to find the guy with this symbol on him? Hmm, easy enough." Knulgen said as he started walking on the road, ahead of the group.

"Let's try to find something eat before we really start to look for the next warrior." Sam said as they all followed close to Knulgen and into the forest mountain area.

The gang walk for more then an hour until finally they found a small hut like dining place that was settled a little bit away from a cliff that had a beautiful look out into the mountains with heavy forest behind the dining hut. They were relived to find a place and it already had some customers.

One was a Cataranion man that had almost black skin with a black fur tail. Another was an Aquamarin man that had shoulder long dreads and with two very long dreads, that went down to his waist. **(A/N: remember the Aquamarins don't have hair, instead it's long skin that looks like tentacles but without the suction-cups and they come in different lengths and size, so just to recap there) **The other was an Arachun woman with dark blonde hair in a knotted style. Another was a Lizardin woman with braid dull red hair with a few earrings. There was also a dark skinned human with very short brown hair and a scar on the side of his neck. And finally a Caucasian human with his light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, he looked to be the youngest, around 19 or so, and his clothes were a kimono like wear with two katana like swords at one side of his hip.

The people at the diner looked like they were well traveled, for their clothes looked like something you wear for long travels and long periods of being outside.

The gang was so glad to see a spot to eat and sat down on one of the many bench like seats where people would sit out and eat off plates. Kairaree went to place an order for them while they took a load off and looked out into the mountain range in amazement. Knulgen didn't pay much mind. After a few minutes, Kairaree came back with their order, it was a plate that had three skewers with four dumpling like food on each skewer.

"Ta-da, kordeo dumpling. The diner owner says there a specialty in this area." Kairaree said holding out the plate.

"So how do we divided these evenly amongst ourselves?" Ulrich asked pointing to the small portion of food.

"How about I just kill you all and eat them myself." Knulgen said as jumped from his seat to try and grab some of them, but Kairaree held the plate up from him.

"What's with you? We need to share these!" Kairaree yelled as she kept avoiding his grabs.

As Knulgen tried to take the food and Kairaree held the plate up high, three black birds swooped and snatched the skewers and flew off into the sky. The gang was stunned by the sudden loss of they're food.

"Hey those birds stole our food, come back here!" Kairaree yelled.

"Damn those fucking birds, they jacked our grub dammit!" Knulgen yelled as they both shouted to the birds at the same time.

"They're called pack thief birds, and now you know why." Aracane said, disappointed over their small lose.

"Nice to know." William said sarcastically.

"Now what are we gonna do for food?" Jeremie asked them.

"Is it true? Another group of people got attacked." The Cataranion said to the people he was sitting with.

"Yeah, some more people are missing, I guess the rumors are true. There's a monster in the mountains attacking people." The aquamarin said to him.

"Oh my, what a terrible story." The young Human said to the people.

"Hey aren't you some kind of warrior? Why don't you find and fight the monster?" The dark skinned Human asked.

"Oh no, not me, I couldn't possibly." He said as a small yellowish dog walked up to him while he was talking to the men. "Arf!" The dog barked. "My goodness, you must not sneak up on me like that." The young human said as he jumped up from the dogs bark.

"I guess there are cowardly warriors too." The Lizardin woman chuckled.

"So then who will fight this monster? It has to be stopped before more people disappear." The Arachun woman said to them.

"A monster terrorizing the area, sounds like a job we can do." Knulgen said as he walked over to them and took a skewer from one of their plates.

"Hey, that's mine kid!" The Aquamarin man said over his lost food.

"How bout this, you guys buy us some food, and we kill the monster, deal?" Knulgen said as he ate the dumplings in one bit and threw the skewer into the air. As it fell, Knulgen drew his sword and cut the skewer in half, longways as the two long pieces hit the ground in one swift motion. The people were amazed by the kids skills and precision of his sword.

"You know it sounds good, tell your friends to come inside and we will get you something to eat." The Cataranion man said.

"Hey guys, I got us some grub!" Knulgen called to them.

"So I guess were monster slayers now." William said.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Jeremie shrugged.

"Hey we're getting paid in food, which is good enough for me." Odd said as he headed to the inside.

"I suppose we should look into this monster, for all we know it could be Xana's doing." Yumi pointed out.

"GW did say we would have many trials ahead, so I guess this monster might be one of those things." Ulrich said as they all went inside.

()()()()()()()()

The inside had tables and they all sat down while they ordered their food and ate.

"So you kids travel around too?" The Aquamarin said as they ate their dumplings with joy.

"Hey kid, did you train at some big named temple or something?" The dark skinned Human asked.

"Not really, I guess you can say I'm self taught." Knulgen said to the men sitting across from them.

"Wow, that's still impressive." The Cataranion said to him.

While they were talking, Ulrich noticed the young swordsman who was sitting alone at another table on the other side of the diner kept glancing over at him. Ulrich pretended not notice, but the swordsman kept looking away and looking back as they continued to talk.

"Is there any description of the monster, what does it look like?" Aracane asked, wanting to get as much detail they can.

"We don't know, all we heard was that it was very hideous and deadly. But then again a monster would be hard to miss" The Aquamarin said to him.

The girls were sitting with the women at another table, enjoying some tea with their food.

"Thanks for the food, I guess now we need to hold up our end of the deal and take care of this monster." Yumi said while sipping tea.

"Well it's kind of our way of saying good luck. I mean we hear this monster is very dangerous." The Arachun woman said to them.

"In any case, now that we got some food, we can fight at full strength." Sam said with a mouthful.

"Just don't get in over your heads if it gets to be too much." The Lizardin woman warned.

"Alright guys, now that we are full, we can go slay us a monster." William said, getting ready to go.

"I must say, I admire self confident warriors like you guys. In my case I am a swordsman in name." The young human said as he walked out. When the young man left, Ulrich noticed that he seemed to be talking to him, but Ulrich shook it off and thought he was just being too cautious.

"Wow this tea is strong." Aelita said a little drowsy.

"Just to let you kids know. Don't be out at night, it's dangerous." The Aquamarin man said to them.

"But if we can't sleep outside, then where should we go? We don't have very much money for lodging." Aracane asked them.

"There's a shack not far down the road. It's a little run down, but it's big enough for all of you, so you can stay there the night if you don't find the monster." The Cataranion man said.

"Thanks, we'll check it out." Ulrich said to them.

"Hey guys, you may want to come over here." Yumi called out.

The boys looked over to see Aelita passed out on the table where she was sitting. Soundly asleep.

"What happened her?" Jeremie asked walking over to them.

"I'm sorry, that tea is very strong. It comes from a tea leaf that for some people, could put them to sleep right away." The Arachun woman said a little timidly.

"Great, what do we do with her now?" Odd asked.

"Geez, it's simple, I'll carry her." Aracane said as he gently picked her up and put her on his back.

"In that case, let's go to the shack and put her there, and we will look for this monster." Ulrich told them as they started to head out.

"Good luck, you all will need it." The dark skinned Human called out as they left with Aelita on Aracane's back and went to find the cabin.

"Thank you, and thanks for the food as well." Kairaree called as she caught up with the rest.

()()()()()()()

A few minutes after they left the other people left and headed down the road and took another path away from the road that lead to the shack. The group walked for a few minutes until the one armed man walked out in front of them. "Well, did you people do it?" Mr. Markriu asked them.

"Yeah, their on the way right now, to look for the 'monster' in the mountains. They will be out all day." The Cataranion told him.

"And the pink haired girl, did you drug her only?" He asked the women.

"She'll be out cold for hours, I said the tea leaf could put some people to sleep. They bought it, the suckers. They didn't even see me put the powder in her cup while I poured it." The Arachun woman said with a smirk.

"Very good, now all I have to do is wait a little, then I'll deal with that damn Molknuc kid who cut my arm off!" Mr. Markriu said, clutching his stump. "Where is that other swordsman?" He demanded when he noticed they were one short.

"I think he chosed that one teen with the two swords as his target." The Aquamarin said to him.

"Whatever then, as long as he does his part." Mr. Markriu replied.

"Also remember, you better pay us right away after we deal with those kids." The Lizardin woman warned.

"Don't worry about it. As long as you all do your part, you will all be handsomely payed. Just deal with the others while me and my friend deal with the Molknuc and the pink haired human girl." Mr. Markriu said as the large deformed man Wrageno stepped out from behind the bushes.

His head was covered by his hood, shadowing his face. In his right hand was a long staff handle that had two very large blades on the ends of the staff. The blades were long and curved with saw like spikes on the other sides of the blades, and the blades were positioned opposite of each other so the wielder could still have a sharp side against an opponent when twirling.

The hired assassins cringed back a little from the deformed man's imposing posture, knowing how dangerous he could be. "Now come on, you all have met him already. So there's no need to be scared of him unless you give him a reason to make you all scared." Mr. Markriu said grinning at them.

"So I guess we'll head off and keep track of those kids then." The Cataranion said as they left to get as far from the hooded man as they could.

"Now Wrageno, we must set the next traps to get that wild boy to come to us. He will have to, with this stuff in his body," He said, pulling out a vial with a black liquid inside. "And I will use the cure as an insinuative. If he wont come for the pink hair girl then he will defiantly come for the cure. Too bad he wont even get to use it." He chuckled as his plan was coming together. "Now let's find her, so she can do her roll in this beautiful play." He said as they walked into the woods.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The gang made their way to the shack that was a lot farther then the people at the diner said, for they have been walking for almost two hours. "Man she's still out cold. Let's strip her and dump her." Knulgen said looking at Aelita sleeping on Aracane's back.

"Do you mean to be such an insensitive prick? Or do you not know how to do inner-monologues or keep things to yourself?" Aracane asked the rude Knulgen.

"Why would we even rob her? We got nothing of value." Kairaree added.

"Don't you even dare try to take her clothes off you jerk!" Jeremie warned him.

"Hey Ulrich what's wrong? You haven't said a word since we left that diner." Yumi asked a little worried about him being so quiet.

"That swordsman, did he seem a little strange?" Ulrich asked out loud.

"Eh... every thing seems strange now." Odd said to him.

"May be your just being too cautious. These last few days have been hectic" William said to him.

"I guess... but still." Ulrich pondered.

The gang suddenly stopped as they saw a young Molknuc woman walking up to them from another path. "Oh, hello there warriors." She said with a kind smile.

"Hi there." Odd said with a simple wave.

"What are you young warriors doing out hear in the woods?" She asked.

"We're looking for a monster that has been terrorizing the area. Have you heard anything about it?" Ulrich asked.

"Other then horrible things about the beast. If you don't mind, could one of you escort me home? It's just too dangerous to be out alone. I'll make it worth your while." She asked them.

"I'll take this job guys. You just get sleepy head to that shack." Knulgen said as walked over to the woman.

"But Knulgen, we need to find that monster." Yumi reminded him.

"Hey with any luck, I will kill the monster first. Now ma'am, please lead the way." He said as they headed to the woman's house.

"Do you guys think we will see him anytime soon?" Kairaree asked. Wondering if they were thinking the same thing on what Knulgen will try to do.

"Let's just get Aelita to the shack and look for that monster before it gets any later." Aracane said as they started back on the path.

It was another hour until they found the shack. It was a little run down but still in one piece. Aracane handed Aelita to Ulrich, for he was needed to open the heavy stuck door. He opened it up with ease and they all went in. The place was a little dirty but not infested with pests. Ulrich put Aelita on a bed that was in the corner and they fixed the place up. They got some wood for the fireplace and dusted the place to breath a little better. It was a little past noon until they decided to go out to look for the monster.

"So Jeremie, you stay here and keep an eye on Aelita, while we look for this monster." Yumi told him as they walked out the door.

"What should I do until you guys get back?" Jeremie asked them.

"There's some canned food in the cabinets for travelers. So I guess make dinner after awhile." Odd suggested.

The rest of the group went out to search the mountain area. The area was very large and splintered off with many paths to take, but they all stayed together in case they find the monster.

"Gods, I hope Knulgen doesn't get in way over his head." Kairaree said as they walked the paths.

"I just hope we find him, it's getting late." William added while they all walked deeper into the forest.

()()()()()()()()()

Knulgen finally got to the woman's home which took longer then he thought, but they finally made it. Her house was on a small hill that looked out into the mountain. It wasn't too big, but it had two stories and a balcony.

"Well home sweet home lady. Guess I'll make my way back to my group then." Knulgen said as he turned to walk back on the path to the shack.

"Wait a minute, wont you come inside? I did say I will make it worth your while." She said with a smile. Knulgen couldn't refuse as he followed her into the home.

The place was quite cozy and as they made their way up to the balcony to look out as the sun just began to set. He looked out into the view until the woman came out with an urn like jug and two cups.

"What's this?" Knulgen asked slyly.

"Why it's Suladal Wine, some of the strongest drinks in the region, and a well deserved reward for a handsome young warrior like you." She said as she filled they're cups.

"Well in that case, don't mind if I do." Knulgen said, taking a cup while she took her's. They clicked their cups together and began to drink. Kunlgen drank deep of the wine until a foul taste went down his throat.

Knulgen quickly dropped the cup as it hit the floor and shattered while he coughed up specks of black liquid, but it was already too late. He quickly drew his sword and held the tip to her neck as he wiped some of the remaining black liquid off. "What the hell did you make me swallow, you bitch?!" He demanded very angrily.

"Do you like it? The poison you drank comes from a mushroom called, black night. It's called that because the venom in it becomes potent when there's no more sunlight for it and the mushroom becomes deadly." She said with a smile, not even worried about the blade at her throat.

"Why would you poison me? I have done nothing wrong to you." He said ready to cut her head off.

"Because I was paid to. A one armed human man told me to poison you and tell you that he has the cure." She went on, not even worried about his blade.

"One armed human man?" Knulgen said to himself as the memory came back and he now knew who it was. "Where is he? Tell me now before I 'accidentally' cut you." He demanded more forcefully.

"Don't get too worked up, he wanted me to tell you where he is. He is at the forest shrine near the mountain base not far from the river. Follow the path back until you see a post, it will show you which way to go. But I would hurry, you only have until the morning before the poison kills you. Also he said he will have that pink haired human girl with him, and your friends are gonna be attacked soon by the people you met at the diner." She said delivering the whole detail of the one armed mans trap.

Knulgen put his sword back in it's sheath and jumped off the balcony which wasn't far from the ground. He ran off, but not too fast so he could conserve his energy, for he could already feel the poison beginning to take affect.

()()()()()()()()()

Mr. Markriu and Wrageno were on a path near the river on they wayirto the shack until three straw hat wearing highway robbers jumped out from behind a large boulder. "Hand over all your money and we will kill you two quickly." The leader said as they drew their swords.

"Oh what is this? Burglars? I don't have time for this crap." Mr. Markriu said with disbelief, he looked over to Wrageno and said. "Be careful Wrageno, they want to pick on you like all the rest."

Wrageno's eyes went wide as Mr. Markriu's words triggered the same memory and he gasped in sadness as he readied his weapon, approaching the men.

"What the the hell is that thing?" One man asked in fear.

"It doesn't matter. We will take him out just as well. You hear that you big ugly freak?!" The leader shouted. Wrageno finally snapped as he charged and raised his double blade and broke the leaders sword in half. The leader was stunned as Wrageno brought the other side of his weapon on the man and killed him right away. The others were shocked at their bosses quick and brutal death. One of them charged at Wrageno but he roared and swung his blade sideways and killed the man with ease. The last one stood his ground in fear.

"S-s-stay back you monster, don't come near me!" The last one said but Wrageno yelled again and sliced the man down while Mr. Markriu smiled at the slaughter.

()()()()()()()()()

Knulgen finally made it to the post and found the sign that pointed to the shrine area. He was very tired, the poison was getting worse, his vision was blurry, and his whole body felt like it weighed a ton. But he couldn't stop. He found his path and continued to run down as the sun was almost gone.

()()()()()()()()

Jeremie stood out side to stretch his legs and take in the nature around him. "This mountain area is huge, I hope the others make it make it back before it's dark out." He said as he looked around. Suddenly a sharp prick made him slap the side of his neck, he felt something lodged in and pulled it out. He got a good look at the object and realized it was a dart. He fell to his knees then landed face first into unconsciousness before he could even say anything.

"Heh, good thing I borrowed this dart from that woman, she is quiet good with stuff that puts people to sleep." Mr. Markriu said as he and Wrageno came out into view from deeper in the path. "Now we need to put this little kid inside and say hello to our pink haired friend." He said as he put the blowgun back in his inner shirt and picked up Jeremie with ease and threw him over his left shoulder and they both made their way in the shack.

Aelita woke up and rubbed her eyes. "How long have I been asleep?" She said to herself as she looked around. "This must be the shack those people were talking about. But where is everybody else?" She wondered as she got up and headed to the door. But the door slid open quickly and Aelita was startled as the familiar man stepped in holding Jeremie over his shoulder. "You! The man from the village. What are you doing here? And what have you done with Jeremie?" She demanded, trying to be bold.

"Better watch that mouth or I might have to cut that little tongue of yours out." He said walking in and passing her. "And don't worry about him, he's just been put to sleep for awhile. But he and the rest of your friends will be taken care of, right after I deal with that Molknuc friend of yours." He said with a grin as he roughly put Jeremie on the bed.

"So I guess you're here for revenge, I can understand me and Knulgen, but my other friends have done nothing wrong to you." She said to him as he made his way back to her.

"Too bad, I need to have them taken care of as well, because if they find you two dead then they will come after me and my friend. And I still have a lot planned." He said as he went to the door. "Wrageno, stay here and make sure she stays put. I will go tell the others when to begin their attack on her friends." Mr. Markriu ordered him. "So you little miss better be good. He's not supposed to kill you, but he can rough you up if you try anything funny."Mr. Markriu said as he left and closed the door leaving her and Jeremie alone with the deformed man.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang was in the hot-spring area, still looking for the monster. They passed a few springs until Ulrich stopped. "Hey guys, let's call it a night and look in the morning." He said to them.

"What about you?" Yumi asked him as her and the others stopped.

"I am going to take a bath in a hot-spring. It's kind of something I've always wanted to do." He said to the them.

"Okay then, we will see you later, and we will make our way back to the shack." Odd said as they all headed back to the road.

"When your done taking a dip, I might come back later for a bath myself." William called out to him.

Ulrich waited until they were out of site and stripped and hopped into the pool.** (A/N: Just so you know, the people of earth wont see him completely naked, they will only see what you would say is "TV appropriate") **He sighed from the warm water as he dunk in. just then he heard another splash as someone else got in the spring.

"Hello there again young warrior." It was the strange swordsman from the diner. "It sure is a nice night for a soak in the springs." He said with a smile as he got neck deep in.

"Yeah I guess so. What are you doing out here?" Ulrich asked the strange swordsman.

"Well I came to help. I know where the monster is, and after we are done washing up, I will show you where to find it." He replied as he relaxed into the water.

"Why are you showing me this? I thought you said you were a swordsman in name?" Ulrich asked him.

"Let's just say, you and your friends gave me the courage to fight. But for now let's finish our bath." The young swordsman said as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the rocks.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Back in the shack, Aelita sat in a chair near a table in the middle of the room looking at the large man who was looking out the grid-like window with a lot of moonlight seeping in. she sat there unsure of what she should do.

"Don't be afraid." He suddenly and slowly said, surprising Aelita. "Everyone is afraid of my face. They say it is ugly and hideous, they all hate me. They call me a monster and a freak. But if I stand here like this away from you, then you cannot see my face." he went on.

Aelita slowly stood up and began to walk towards him. "No, don't look at me." he said sadly as he turned slightly to her then away. Aelita walked to his side and he turned to her, giving her a full view of his face.

She looked at him closely with kind eyes. "You're not scary, but you do seem to have an awfully sad look in your eyes." She said to him kindly.

Wrageno's memory came back to him of the farmland he was at a long time ago. The soldiers throwing torches at him and shouting awful things at him as he was hunched over in fear of them. "They called me a monster. I thought they were going to kill me. I got angry. I couldn't control myself, I killed many people, I have been used in many battles for many years. But in the end they all began to hate me as well." he said as his memory showed the cruel soldiers all dead at his bare hands. "I... am all alone." He said with a deep pain.

Aelita's heart hurt from the pain and cruelty this man has suffered, for she didn't know people would treat deformed people with such heavy hate. Just then, a few fireflies flew into the place. Aelita gently caught one and held it in her hands. She then opened her palm showing him the bug, it flew off her hand and past him, back out into the night.

There was a creak from the door and it slid open to reveal Mr. Markriu. "Let's get going little lady, the party's almost ready to begin." He said to them as he turned and lead them to the shrine while Aelita was gently escorted out by Wrageno as they all headed to the shrine.

()()()()()()()()()()

"How much further is the monster's lair?" Ulrich asked as he followed the swordsman. They have been walking on a path with tall thin trees near the river. They have been walking since they both left the hot-spring, suddenly the swordsman stopped and turned to him.

"This seems far enough. I'm sorry but I hate to tell you, I am an assassin." He said almost regretfully.

"Yes I already figured that since we first met you." Ulrich said not surprised.

"I just want you to know that I enjoyed your company and hold no ill will to you. For me killing is merely a business so it's nothing personal." He said casually to him as he drew one of his swords while Ulrich did the same. They both stood there for a few moments until both of them charged. Their swords clashed as a few tiny sparks flew off from where their blades met. They kept pace with each other as their attacks were countered and blocked, neither one of them giving each other an opening.

"Excellent, it's been a long time since I faced an opponent with such skill and grace. It's such a shame we never trained in the same league. We could have been well matched friends." He said with a smile.

Ulrich couldn't get over the fact that despite this man was trying to kill him. He couldn't stay mad at him for he sounded so nice and kind, and just seemed like a pleasant man to be around.

()()()()()()()()

The others made it across a small bridge that would lead back to the shack not far from where Ulrich was fighting for his life. "It's been awhile. How long of a bath does Ulrich need?" William said to them as they walked over the bridge.

Yumi had a very strange feeling that something was wrong, as if there was someone watching them. Suddenly Yumi heard the clash of metal in the distance. She turned and ran to the river edge and looked. She could barely see Ulrich fighting the man from the diner earlier that day in the small forest. "Guys! Ulrich is in danger, we have to help him!" She said in a panic as she ran for the bridge.

"Yumi look out!" Kairaree shouted.

Yumi glanced to the side and saw a small blade flying towards her. She dodge out of the way just in time, leaving her with a tiny cut on the side of her throat. They all looked over and saw their assailants. It was the people from the diner that morning.

"Damn, I almost had her!" The dark skinned human man shouted.

"It's okay, we'll get them soon enough." The Arachun woman said.

"You're the people from the diner, what's going on?" Yumi demanded as she held her cut.

"We are assassins hired by a one armed human to kill you kids." The Aquamarin said to them as he took out his weapon.

"Wait, didn't Aelita say Knulgen cut off someones arm from that tea house the day before?" Sam asked them as she took out her blunt tonfas.

"I guess that's your guy. He hired us to get rid of you all while he deals with the Molknuc guy and your pink haired friend as well." The Cataranion man told them.

"You low down bastards." Aracane said as he grabbed his ax.

"Right now, we are your main concern, so I suggest you all pay attention to us." The Lizardin woman said as they all draw their weapons. They all had swords of various types and they were ready to attack.

The others had their weapons drawn too, knowing the battle they were about to have. The assassins came at them with their swords ready to strike. The lizardin woman went after Sam. The dark skinned human man went after Aracane. The Aquamarin man went after William. The Arachun woman went after Yumi. And the Cataranion man went after Kairaree. They're battle was hard and intense, for each of them was worried about Aelita and Knulgen. But Yumi, she was mostly worried about Ulrich with his solo battle.

()()()()()()()()()()

Knulgen finally made it to the shrine area. He was wondering around in the area near the river to start his search. The area had stakes sticking out of the ground. They were flat and straight with many marking that meant good look and fortune for travelers who visited the area. Knulgen found a small path and made his way up. The path had a wall of stakes on both sides perfectly aligned and close to each other, leaving no gaps to see through leading to the shrine on the hill.

Knulgen was very weak, the poison was taking effect and making his vision blurry and his breath labored. "Damn it, I really feel like shit now." He said as he took a moment to catch his breath. Suddenly his senses perked up as he quickly rolled to the ground just in time as a huge blade cut down some of the stakes with ease, missing him by a hair. He looked over to see the deformed man readying his weapon for another strike.

"Guess I will be doing some monster slaying after all." He shouted as he picked up a fallen stake and threw it at the deformed man. He swung his weapon and cut the stake in half as Knulgen charged at him over the open gap. He unsheathed his sword and strike at the man, but the deformed man countered with the other blade and threw Knulgen back into the other stakes, breaking right through them very painfully. "Damn! That poisons taking effect. My arms weigh a ton and my legs are like noodles." He said to himself.

The man jumped over to where Knulgen was and swung down with his staff blade, but he jumped out just in time as the large blade slammed on the ground. He attacked again cutting a tombstone in half. Knulgen rolled far back then went on the attack, he tried to swing low at his legs, but the deformed man drove his blade into the ground, countering Knulgens sword. But Knulgen didn't stop as he jumped up and attack the mans head, but only managed to hit his hood and knocking it off his head.

Wrageno was stunned and gasped in fear, he put his free hand over the side of his face shuttering in misery. "I am ugly... don't look at me!" He shouted as he then used his free hand and slam it into Knulgen's face, throwing him into a few tombstones. He didn't even have a chance to defend himself.

"Knulgen no!" Aelita shouted. She was tied up and on her knees near Mr. Markriu, at the top of the shrine.

"Not yet Wrageno, don't kill him right away. That son of a bitch is going to die nice and slow." Mr Markriu said as he dragged Aelita by the ropes down to where the two were fighting.

()()()()()()()()

Back with Ulrich. "I really haven't enjoyed myself in a really long time. Never the less, I need to be efficient as possible, which means never work overtime. It's been fun, but now I must end this as quickly as I can if you don't mind." The swordsman said as they both took a moment to catch their breaths and take a new stance.

Ulrich then raised his swords ready for the next attack. The swordsman took out his other sword and charged and leaped at him, but barely missed Ulrich while cutting down a few small trees as their battle continued.

()()()()()()()

The others were still fighting their opponents as the assassins stepped their attacks up. The gang was trying to get rid of them so they can help their other friends, but their battle was keeping them from even crossing the bridge. In the end they would have to hope for the best as the assassins attacked them more fiercely.

()()()()()()()()()()

Mr. Markriu was enjoying tormenting Knulgen as he kicked him into the shallow river water face down and holding Knulgen's head down in the water with his boot. "How do you like that you little bastard? Can't breath can you? But I wont let you die yet, you haven't suffered nearly long enough, and now your gonna suffer some more!" Mr. Markriu said with a crazed smile, for Knulgen was finally too weak to even fight back.

Aelita finally had enough as she got up and with all her might, ran at the man and shoved him into the water. Mr. Markriu fell all the way into the water while Knulgen barely managed to roll out of the water. "That's it bitch, it's your turn!" Mr. Markriu shouted as he got out and slapped her to the ground. Aelita yelped in pain as Mr. Markriu took out his broken in half sword from his sheath. "Even better, I will make him suffer more by killing you first." He said as Knulgen rolled onto the bank trying to help her in vain.

"We went out here to find a monster, but if anyone's a monster it's you. You're a horrible man, how can you even call yourself a person?" Aelita demanded the crazed man with no fear.

"Huh? What the hell gave you that idea. Young lady, I gave up my sanity long ago. I love watching people suffer, that's what I call fun." He said as he but the broken blade at her throat as she sat on her knees still tied up while Wrageno stood not too far from them with one end of his dual blade staff in the ground, covering his face in shame.

"I'm actually a generous man and I want to share my suffering with everybody else. I say that's fair, wouldn't you?" He asked as he put the blade closer to her throat. "So now you know why your gonna die!" Mr. Markriu said as he was about to cut her throat. But then suddenly Wrageno was behind him before he could react.

Wrageno put both his hand's around Mr. Markriu's neck and began to strangle him while lift him off the ground. As he got higher all he could do was gasp out. "Wra...ge..no...wh...at...ar...ee..." He gasped as his life was almost ended, but with his last amount of strength he flipped the handle of his blade backwards and stabbed it into Wrageno's chest. Wrageno gasped in pain from the blade, but that didn't stop him as he finally crushed Mr. Markriu's neck, killing him right away as he dropped his body to the ground.

Aelita and Knulgen were surprised by him suddenly helping them as Wrageno fell backwards to the ground.

()()()()()()()()

"Oh dear!" The swordsman said as he looked over to the river side and ran to it. Ulrich followed him but kept his distance in case this was a trick. The swordsman looked over to the other side and saw his employer dead on the ground. "Well it seems I don't have to try and kill you anymore, my client has passed on." He simply said to Ulrich.

"What?" Was all Ulrich asked.

"It's an odd turn of events. In other words, I now have absolutely have no reason to kill you. Clearly there's no point in killing someone if I'm not going to get paid by doing so." He said to him as he sheathed both his sword. "Well I'm off, I will tell the others to call off the attack on your other friends too. So I suggest you head over to you're other friends on the other side of the river at the shrine area. There's a bridge not far from here that will lead to the shrine, so take care young warrior and good luck." He said with a smile and went off to the other assassins while Ulrich went the other way to Aelita and Knulgen.

()()()()()()()()()

The others fight was still as it was until the swordsman made his way over to them and stood in the middle of the bridge and called out. "You assassins, there's no point in killing those kids. Our client has been killed." The swordsman called to them.

"What? You can't be serious?" The Cataranion man said in disbelief. As all the assassins got back into their group to avoid being attacked off guard.

"Yes I'm afraid he is, so killing them will serve no purpose. Well I'm off now, take care all of you." He called to the other assassins. "Also you kids. Your other friends are down the road. Just follow the path and you will find the shrine, so good luck." He said, and with that he disappeared into the woods.

"I cannot believe this! We wasted all this time for nothing!" The Auqamarin said in anger.

_Shoommmmm! _An arrow from Odd's bow passed the mans face as a warning. "I suggest you all leave now." Odd said as he readied another arrow.

"Dammit! Let's get out of here." The dark skinned Human man shouted as they all turned and ran across the bridge into the woods.

"Come on guys. Let's find Aelita and Knulgen." Yumi said as they all ran down the path.

()()()()()()()()()()

Knulgen crawled over to the body of Mr. Markriu and pulled out the cure. He popped the top and quickly drank it all down, already starting to feel better as he got back on his feet. Aelita freed herself from the ropes and made her way over to Wrageno as he laid there dieing. The other got to the shrine and found them as Aelita sat on her knees looking at Wrageno as his life slowly faded. Knulgen stood back from her and held his hand up to the others as a silent jester to the others to keep back for now.

"Why... why did you protect me? Tell me why." She gently asked as tears began to fall down her cheeks.

"You were... the only one, who wasn't afraid to look at my face. Now I am not alone anymore." He said as he raised his big hand up into the firefly filled sky. He held his hand there as a single firefly landed on his finger. He held his hand up for a few moments as he smiled for the first time in his life. His hand slowly went down as he closed his eyes and his final breath exhaled. His long sad life came to a happy end, finally he was not looked at with fear as Aelita brought peace into his soul. For she was the only one who treated him with kindness as he died in peace under the firefly filled night sky.

**END CHAPTER.**


	9. TRAIN RIDE TO DESTINY

**CHAPTER 9: TRAIN RIDE TO DESTINY**

The gang gathered around Aelita to catch up on what has happened this crazy night. Between Knulgen being poisoned and the gang having a band of assassins attacking them, questions needed to be answered.

"It's that man from the tea house the day before, right Aelita?" Odd asked the crying girl.

"Yes, it was him." She replied as she wiped some tears away.

"Then... who is this man?" Sam asked looking at the deceased Arachun.

"Other then someone who has been treated terribly all his life. I don't know who he is other then his name war Wrageno." Aelita replied as she got up from his side.

"Didn't he try to kill you and Knulgen?" Aracane asked them.

"Just me, but he saved Aelita. So I guess the best thing to do is give him a decent burial. We owe him that much." Knulgen said as he finally got his strength back as the antidote fully cured him.

"I'll go to the shrine. There might be some shovels to use." William said as he headed up to the shrine.

"What about the other guy? What should we-" _Splash. _Ulrich was interrupted by the sound of Knulgen throwing Mr. Markriu's body into the deep river, taking care of him for good. "Never mind." Ulrich said to them since Knulgen already took care of it.

"What a night. Two assassination attempt in less then a week." Yumi said to them.

"Yeah, we're a real magnet for trouble." Kairaree added.

"I found four shovels, it's like they want people to be buried here." William said as he got back with the group. He handed one to Ulrich, Aracane, and Odd, and he kept one.

"Let's put him over there by the grave site." Aelita said as the boys went over and began digging a grave. It took them over an hour until it was big enough for the seven foot tall man and deep enough to at least put a layer of dirt over him. Aracane dragged him into the hole and laid him in with care. While the boys began to bury him, Aracane went and found a few large rocks to put over his grave to keep animals from digging him up. Finally after the rocks were placed, Knulgen took his dual staff blade and impaled one end all the way into the ground as a warriors tombstone mark.

"Let's have a moment of silence for him." Aracane said as they all stood quiet around Wrageno's grave, Aelita was the saddest for him.

After a minute they all began to head back to the shack to finally call it a night. The gang got back to the shack to find Jeremie waking up from the tranquilizer, standing at the door. "What happened, what's going on!" Jeremie said as he was still disoriented from being knocked out for a few hours.

"Come on Jer, let's get some food and we will tell you everything." Ulrich said as they all went inside to settle for the night. After they started a fire, they cooked some of the canned food in the cabinets and after explaining everything to Jeremie, they finally settled in for the night. Jeremie and Aelita decided to take first shift since they were 'asleep' for a long time through out the day, even if they were drugged and Kairaree joined them since she has yet to take a first turn. The others went to sleep and after awhile Jeremie noticed that Aelita was sitting by the window with a very sad look on her face. He went over to find out what was wrong.

"Aelita, you have been sitting there looking upset. What's wrong?" He asked as he took a seat in front of her.

"That man we told you about. He was treated so wrong and awful just because of the way he looked. I can't believe people would do that." Aelita said to him.

"Yeah, people some times fear things and people for things they don't understand." Jeremie said as he forced the cold truth out.

"Do people on Earth treat deformed people like that too?" She asked.

"Yes, some people on Earth do as well." Jeremie replied.

"I knew earth had a lot of problems but I never knew it was that bad." Aelita said in disbelief.

"Not surprising, you've been living in Lyoko for so long, your kind of naive in things like that. What with the wars, corrupt politics and companies, poor and war-torn countries, and just other bad things too." He said, embarrassed by Earths problems.

"Do you think thing's could get better on Earth and here too?" Aelita asked.

"Hard to say. I know Xana is our main target but in the end, everyone needs to help as well and do their part to make things better." He said as he looked out the window.

"I understand Jeremie, thanks." Aelita said smiling as she looked out to the night with the firefly's. They kept watch until their shift was over and some of the others took over until day break.

DAY 6

The morning came and the gang wasted no time in getting the day started by following the amulet to find the next warrior for their group. They passed the shrine area that was on their path. Aelita stopped and put a few flowers on the fresh grave of Wrageno for their last respects before heading down the path, deeper into the forest. It was over two hours before they finally got out of the woods and into an open area where they saw a town in the distance from the entrance of the forest they finally exited.

"Oh great, another town. I wonder who will end up with their heads on a chopping block this time?" Aracane asked them while looking at Knulgen.

"I don't think we have to worry about that town." Aelita said while looking at the amulet.

"What do you mean Aelita?" Yumi asked her.

"The amulet is pointing in another direction. It's pointing down that path." She said as they looked down the other path that showed them to a place they could not see where it leaded too.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's bounce." Knulgen said with out a second thought and they continued down the path. Less then an hour later the gang made it around the bend and found where the amulet was leading them. The town had a large train station.

"Wow, cool a train station. I've never been on a train before." Odd said with glee.

"The arrow is pointing down the tracks. Maybe this thing is finally getting better at tracking?" Aelita said as she put the amulet away.

"Hold on there, I'm sure we have to pay for tickets and we don't have much money for all of us." Kairaree pointed out.

"Heh heh, that's what you guys think. Before I dumped that jackass into the river, I checked his pockets and found this." Knulgen said as he pulled out a large envelope from his jacket pocket. He opened it and showed that it was filled with a few hundred dollar.

"Knulgen, that's amazing. I can't believe you found all that money." William said with eyes wide open.

"When were you going to tell us about this money?" Yumi sternly asked with crossed arms.

"I was going to tell you guys... eventually." Knulgen said as he paused for a moment at that last word.

"And now I will take the money and keep charge of our spending." Kairaree said as she took the envelope from his hands while Knulgen was looking away for a moment.

"Hey, I found the money, I should be in charge!" He to growled Kairaree.

"Okay sure, you can keep track of our spending's, calculate our budget, and monitor our income of jobs we do and-"

"Screw it, fine, you keep track of the damn money." Knulgen said, interrupting Kairaree as she smiled with joy knowing her plan worked.

"Hurry guys, that train could leave anytime now. We need to get some tickets now." Aelita said as she went to the ticket booth. They got in line for tickets which took them a few minutes until they got to the front booth.

"Ten tickets, one way please." Kairaree said to the Molknuc ticket seller.

"The train travels over a thousand miles until it makes it's last stop. So you have a choice of either riding it to the end, or getting off at one of the stops." The ticket seller said as he handed their tickets.

"Sounds good for us." Kairaree said as she took the tickets and handed to her friends.

"Also, I'm afraid you will have to put your weapons in storage. No exceptions." The ticket seller said to them.

"Forget that, I'm not letting my sword out of my sight." Knulgen said as he gripped the handle.

"Don't make a scene. We need this train ride if we are going to find the next warrior faster." Aracane whispered to him.

"I can assure you young sir, your weapons will be well protected. We will give each of you a number tag, and when you choose to get off the train, show it to a conductor and reclaim your weapons. Now hurry, the train will be leaving soon." The ticket seller said as they went to the docking platform to begin there ride.

The gang boarded the train as it was gearing up to go. The train had a very interesting look to it. It was if it was a cross between an old fashion locomotive and modern train, for the outside of the carts looked old fashion and made of wood while the inside was well decorated and lavish. And the engine had a sleek and powerful look to it. The gang was met on the inside by two conductors who led them to a lockup cart where they relinquished their weapons into the various sized lockers. The ones with long weapons like Ulrich, William, and Aracane, while the ones with smaller weapons like Odd, Sam, Yumi, and Kairaree went into a square locker.

"Come on Knulgen, put your sword in the locker before they kick you off." Ulrich said to him as Knulgen held his sword in his hands like his life depended on it.

"Knulgen, wise warrior once said, even the greatest of warriors must put their weapons down when it's not needed." Aracane said as he took his number tag for his locker.

"Fine..." Was all Knulgen said as he put his weapon into the locker and closed it.

The conductor showed them to the passenger areas then to their rooms since the the whole ride from this area to the last stop takes over three days. The gang made themselves at home. The train whistle blew and signaled that it was taking off on the tracks.

"So guys, dinner won't be for a while. What should we do?" Yumi said as they sat in the passenger area.

"Well for starters, we all need showers. I'm surprised no one has taken offense." Aelita said to them.

"She's right, it has been awhile since that lodge with the nice old couple." Kairaree suggested to them.

"Then let's get ourselves cleaned and we will meet back here and get comfortable until dinner." Aelita said as they all headed for the shower areas on the train.

After awhile the gang regrouped in their passenger area. The gang spent the rest of the day relaxing. Ulrich sat by the window and looked out into the view, Knulgen and Odd simply slept in their seats while Aracane did push-ups on the floor to keep himself busy, Jeremie and Aelita found the TV set in passenger lounge area and watched news and history channels to get an idea of the world they are on. As for Yumi, William, and Kairaree, they simply sat in their passenger seats and kept to themselves until dinner was called over the PA by the conductor. The gang made then went to the diner cart and ordered their meals. When they were done they went back to the cart for a little while longer until they finally went to their sleeping carts to call it a night.

"Good night guys, if we are lucky tomorrow, we might find the next warrior in the next stop." Aelita said as she went to the four bedroom with the other girls.

"Night princess, I hope your right. The sooner we find the next one, the better." Odd said as he and the other guys went into their sleeping cart for the night. The train continued down the tracks into the night nonstop as the gang slept. Unaware of how close they're next warrior was.

()()()()()()()()

In the city known as Novalight City. A city of good fortune where the wealthy live in the city's farther corner while the middle class live in the center. As for the poor, they live in the slums which is caught in the grip of a crime lord who holds one of the biggest drug cartel in the whole region. He plots to take over the city and it's officials as his influence grows bigger in the once peaceful city.

In the slum area where drug deals go down, the night air was cool and calm. On top of an abandoned building which was one of many that filled the slums stood a teenage human boy. He was around the gangs age, his hair was a light black and he wore dark sunglasses. His clothes were all black, his boots were black, his armored top and pants was black, and even his worn long trench coat was black. He stood there calmly as he waited for the drug dealers to return to the tall building that was across the street from him. The building was one of the many drug drops where the main dealer who runs the building, answering only to their mob boss.

He leaned over the edge of the building, keeping watch until finally four cars pulled up to the building and parked, a few people from each of the cars emerged and went into the building. There were ten of them in all. They were all carrying various guns and some had briefcases filled with drugs for processing. **(A/N: just remember, that there are multiple species and I have already given you readers the details of what each species look like, so use your imaginations as to what these thugs look like because giving detail to each one would take to long and would be pointless)**

"Time to go to work." The black coated teen said to himself. He put his gloved finger to the side of his sunglasses. As he did, a shade of light illuminated from the shades, showing that they were night vision shades.

He jumped from the two-story building and landed with ease on his right foot, strangely unharmed at all. He made his way to the building to the door. He pulled out a key like tool from his pocket. It was a slip of metal like a key but without the grooves and ridges of a key, he put it into the lock then pulled it out, it was now shaped in the form of the locks keyhole. He put it back in and opened the door quietly and sneaked into the building.

He made his way up the stairs and peeked over the rail and saw the men going about they're business. Some were cleaning their guns while a few others were packing and wrapping drugs. From powder like substance, pills, and even plant like products while the leader sat in a big sofa, laughing wildly at the show he was watching on the TV.

The black coated teen made his way across the room unnoticed as he reached the main power box in the corner, he pulled out a handgun from it's holster while pulling out a curved forward machete. He cocked the hammer of the gun while readying the machete. He raised the blade high, and swung down on the large cable under the box. Large sparks shoot out from the cable as the power in the building died.

"What the fuck is going on?" The leader yelled as he jumped from his sofa pulling out a gun.

"I think somebody is in here." A drug packer said.

"Spread out, search every corner." The second in command said as they all began they're search. The men pulled their guns of different types and tried to prevent themselves from tripping in the dark as they looked around. A few of them flipped some of the switches to see if the power was truly gone while the others looked around.

The teen had the advantage, for his night vision shades helped him see and sneak around the men as he prepared for the fight ahead. "Where are you punk? Come out now and we will kill you quick." The leader shouted with a hint of fear in his voice.

"Why don't you make me come out you bitch." The teen said from the shadows.

"Over there by the wall! Kill his ass!" The leader shouted as they all aimed at the brick wall and opened fire, spilling out hundreds of shells from their various weapons. From handguns and sub-machine guns and automatics and even one with a shotgun as the flashes from the muzzles illuminated the room until the sound of clicks from their empty guns, bringing back the darkness.

"Did we get him? Wheres the body?" One of the thugs said as he shined a flashlight at the bullet-hole filled wall looking for the body.

"Right here asshole." The teen said as he dropped down from one of the rafters onto the lone thug and put a bullet in the back of the downed thugs head.

"Get him!" The leader shouted as they all quickly reloaded they're weapons and redyed their guns.

The teen put a round in the thug with the shotgun while circling around behind them. "He's right there." One thug shouted as he tried to shoot the teen, but instead killed three of the other thugs with his Uzi.

"Hey pal, have you ever heard of friendly fire?" The Teen mocked as he easily avoid him.

"You idiot, kill the kid, not ours!" The leader shouted at the careless thug.

"I'm no kid, I am your worst nightmare." The teen said as he shot down two more from his duel handguns.

"You think you can just walk in here and kill my men and get away with it? Do you know who our boss is? He will be running this town soon, and anybody who crosses him will end up dead and forgotten. Just like you will be soon enough." The leader shouted as he and his four remanding men struggled to locate him as they searched in the dark.

"Your bosses days are numbered. But you and the rest of your thugs... you guys wont live to see the next sunrise." He said coldly and decided to wrap the job up. He attacked them head on, he killed one of them with a few rounds while the others were panicking. He went behind one and put his hands on the other thugs head and snapped his neck, killing him right away. The next target he grabbed and held him by the neck with one arm and held the sub-machine he was holding with his other hand and made the thug unload a few rounds into another thug as he fell to the floor in a bloody heap. The teen then pulled out a combat knife with his now free hand and stabbed the thug in the back into his heart. Finally the leader was all that remained, while the teen was distracted, the leader saw the teen in the moonlight from the large window as he struggled to pull the knife from the mans back. An opportunity for the leader as he pulled out another handgun and aimed it at the teen.

The teens training and senses kicked in as he knew he was in trouble. As the leader cocked the hammer of the gun, the teen pulled out another knife and threw it into his chest. The leader dropped the gun from shock and pain as he fell to his knees, the teen walked over to him and put his gun to the leaders head.

"Like I said, you wont see the next sunrise." The teen said as he pulled the trigger and kill the man right on the spot. With the first part of his job done, the teen then went to do the next part of his mission. He began to search the place for information on the cartels route and drops, he made his way to the leaders living area and dug around in the various piles of trash and other junk until he finally found a flashdrive next to a laptop on the desk.

He took the flashdrive and popped out a few memory cards from the laptop and put them in his pocket and then picked up the laptop and tucked it under his arm and made his way out the building as police car sirens could be heard in the distance that were making their way to the area.

The teen went back to the building he was perched at earlier and climbed back up by the fire escape until he was back on top of the roof. He made his way to the center and put the laptop on top of a air-vent and pulled out a smart phone like device from his pocket and turned it on. The imaged tuned on to show a dark skinned human man with short black hair and a small burn scar on the far side of his left head near the ear, the background showed little, but it did seem like he was in a small base.

"Markus, I found a laptop, flashdrive, and a few other memory devices. We might find some useful tips on the crime lord who's running the cartel." The teen said to the man, being straight to the point.

"And what about the thugs that run the building you were in?" Markus asked.

"I dealt with them, let the police simply chalk it up to another gang assault. Just another pointless turf battle will keep the crime lord and his men busy and off our trail." The teen replied.

"Very good, make your back to the base, you've done very good tonight Z. I will decrypt the contents of the items you recovered. Just remember you have a position to stake out tomorrow, so get back and rest, Markus out." He said as his image faded off. The teen now know as Z put his communicator away and picked up the laptop and began to make his way back to base via the roofs of the building that were close to the building he was on as he ran and jumped from roof to roof, using the upper layer of the city as his safe path home.

DAY 7

The next day arrived, the gang was awoken by the PA of the train. "Good morning passengers, it is 7:00 AM, breakfast will served in the dining carts in a few minutes, and our first stop today will be Novalight City. We will arrive in five hours, so eat and relax, we will update you if any changes have been made, so have a good day." The conductor announced.

The gang began their day by going to the dining cart, Odd being the first to arrive as they all sat down for breakfast and began to discuss the plan for the day if they get off at the first stop. After breakfast and Odd almost being kicked out for eating too much, the gang went back to their cart to avoid contact so they don't draw any attention to themselves as the train sped down the tracks. After some hours pass, the trains info ticker above the trains windows reported that the city was only twenty miles and closing.

"So Aelita, is the amulet pointing to the city?" Kairaree asked as Aelita gazed at the mystic object.

"It seems that way, but we will know more as the city comes into view." Aelita replied as the gang counted down the miles on the ticker.

"The only problem is, how are we gonna find one person in a city filled with millions of people?" Jeremie said to them.

"Don't worry Jeremie, as long as we stick together, we can find the warrior." Yumi said to him.

"And we got the amulet, so finding the next warrior should be easy no matter how many people are in the city. So cheer up Jeremie." Ulrich said with a smile as they all waited until the trains first stop.

Less then a half hour later the city began to come into view, the gang looked out the window as the city got closer. Suddenly the amulet Aelita was holding pointed to the city and the gang knew their next warrior was in the city. The train finally slowed and stopped at the train station. The gang was quick to get off. In only minutes the gang reclaimed their weapons, Knulgen was the first and quickest to get back his sword from the locker and held it tight in his hand as they all left the train and it's station before it disembarked to it's next stop. The gang went outside from the train station and took in their surrounding. The city was very large, with tall buildings and the streets filled with people going about their business.

"Alright Aelita, lead the way." Aracane said. Aelita looked at the amulet quickly as the arrow pointed north from where they were standing, away from the crowds of people

"The amulet is pointing north guys, so let's make our way." Aelita said as she leaded them into the city's middle section. After some time the gang manage to make there way deeper into the city as the area became more 'slum-like' so they all stood close together.

"Man this place blows, we should just find a place and call it a day and start fresh in the morning." Knulgen said to them.

"It's only noon, we should look a little longer before turning in." Aracane said to him.

"Yes, but I'm getting hungry and I'm sure everyone else is." Knulgen pointed out.

"For once I agree with him, It's been awhile since we last ate." Odd added as his stomach lightly growled.

"And also, Aelita still owes me one-hundred dumplings. She would have fed me if you haven't got us caught." Knulgen said to Aracane.

"Me!? Your the damn fool who attacked me without even checking if I was the warriors you were waiting for. Then that manic who's arm you cut off, set the chain of events that got us caught by the guards. And we would have been executed if not for _my friends_, who came to our rescue, only to have that man try to kill us with that deformed man and the assassins he hired. And to top it off, it was Aelita who got that Wrageno to save you before the poison killed you. So the way I see it, you Aelita more then she owes you!" Aracane said to Knulgen with raging anger.

"Phht, Whatever meat head. I still want my dumplings, so you better back off before we settle our fight here." Knulgen said as he reached for his sword.

"You really are the lowest of the low, if your considering finishing our fight in the middle of the city." Aracane replied as he reached for his ax, ready to defend himself

"Both of you knock it off. We are in the middle of the city, and the last thing we need is the police arresting us for public disruption." Kairaree said to them before their battle broke out.

"Whatever." Knulgen said as he put his hands to the back of his head.

"He started first you know." Aracane defended as Kairaree turned around and walked back to Aelita. Knulgen turned to Aracane and flipped him the bird. Aracane then responded by doing the throat slitting gesture then pointed to him before rejoining the group.

"So Aelita, any luck yet?" Kairaree asked as she looked at the amulet.

"No, it's still not giving a clear indication on where to go." Aelita said disappointingly.

"How about this, let me give you a break, I'll try my luck for awhile." Kairaree asked as she held her hand out for the amulet.

"Sure, here you go. I get tired of looking at it for so long anyway." Aelita said as she gave her the amulet.

"Okay, let's see, the amulet is now pointing forward, so I guess we need to keep going in that direction." Kairaree said as she got a little ahead of the group. Not far from her, a human man was walking towards her. He saw the amulet in her hands from afar as he made his way to her. "The arrow is starting to get brighter, the next warrior must be close." Kairaree said to herself. Suddenly she looked up to see the man that was coming to her. Without a word the man pushed her down while taking the amulet with his other hand and quickly ran off. Kairaree landed on her bottom as the gang who saw the whole thing ran to her side.

"Kairaree, are you all right?" Aelita asked while holding her hand out.

"Well this city really knows how to greet newcomers." William said.

"Guys, that man has the amulet, we need to catch him!" Kairaree shouted and ran after the man without even giving her friends a chance to get her back on her feet. Kairaree ran fast after the man who had a good head start on them as he ran down the lightly crowded sidewalk. "Stop you thief, stop right now!" Kairaree yelled with anger.

()()()()()()()()()

On a high rooftop, the teen known as Z was on stakeout. He had a pair of binoculars but with a mic in the middle of the scopes that can pick up sounds from long distance.

He was looking around on the streets for any suspicious activity. Suddenly he looked over and saw a Lizardin girl chasing after a human man with a strange object in his hand. "Give that back thief!" She yelled.

The teen Z zoomed on them both. "Damn thief." He said to himself as he put his binoculars away and began to use the roofs as his walkway down to their level.

()()()()()()()

Kairaree continued her chase, but the man just had too good of a start. The man ducked into an alley finally loosing them. He slowed down to a light jog not knowing that there was someone almost on top of him using the fire escapes to get closer. The thief chuckled for his new gain. He finally looked at his ill gotten prize. The amulet looked amazing and looked like it would fetch a good price, suddenly the arrow on the orb shinned bright and pointed up. The man was startled by the orb and instinctively looked up from the arrows direction only to have a pair boots land in his face as Z swung down from the stairs of a fire escape, knocking the man out cold.

The teen Z landed on the ground and walked over and picked up the amulet which was laying face down on the ground. He picked it up just as Kairaree came into view. He looked over to her as she finally ran up to him. Kairaree was hunched over to catch her breath. "Th-thank you whoever you are." She said as she looked at him "Oh... hello there." She said as she was taken aback by the handsome teen.

The teen Z suddenly felt a strange sensation run down his back as he looked at the Lizardin girl. "Uh, sure, here's your jewelry back." Z said as he handed it over to her.

"Well it's not really jewelry, the thing is-" Kairaree stopped and gasped as the amulets arrow shined bright showing that they have found the next warrior. She looked at him with amazement. "You..."

"Me? Me what?" He asked her.

"Your the next warrior, the one we are looking for." She simply said.

"What?" Z said confused.

"Kairaree! There you are!" Ulrich shouted out to her as the gang finally caught up to her.

"Next time, don't run off so fast." Odd said as he heaved for breath.

"Did you take down this man yourself?" Yumi asked.

"Who's this guy?" Knulgen asked, not really interested.

"Guys, it's him, I found the next warrior!" Kairaree said to them with glee.

"Yes, alright, we are on a roll." William said pumping his fist.

"Now hold on, what are you people talking about?" Z said to them.

"Oh sorry, my name is Kairaree, and these are my friends, and to put it short for now, we need you to help us find other warriors like you and fight an evil being before he takes over our world. So how about this, we treat you to a nice meal and we will tell you everything from the beginning. So where should we-"

"I'm sorry but I can't help you, I got my own battles to deal with. So whatever it is, your gonna have to deal with it yourself." Z said as he turned away and walked off into the alley.

"Wait please, let us explain, you have the power to save our planet. Please help us and everyone else." Kairaree called out.

Z stopped in his tracks as he looked back to them. "I'm sorry, but there's too much trouble in this city. If there's more warriors, then find them. I got my own evil to kill." He said as he climbed back up another latter-way back to the roofs.

"Just great, now what do we do?" Jeremie asked them.

"I guess we will call it a day and try again later." Kairaree said as she walked away slowly.

"But we need him so we can find the others as well." William said to her.

"Guys, let's just find a place to sleep and we will look for him tomorrow. It's not like we can't find him anymore, the amulet will still lead us to him." Aracane said.

"No problem, if we have to, we'll confront him and 'convince' him to join us if we have to." Knulgen said with a smile.

"You mean fight him right?" Ulrich asked knowing the answer.

"Is there any other way?" Knulgen replied.

()()()()()()()()()

Z climbed back on top of the roof and began to make his way back to his post. He then stopped and thought to himself of what they said to him. He then pulled out his microphone binoculars and looked down to where they were and turned up the volume of the earpiece that was linked to his binoculars to see if they say anything off. "But guys, we can't find the next warriors until after he swears to join our cause." Odd said as Z looked at them.

"We know, but we can't just threat or bribe him to join." Yumi said.

"Maybe we can get Guardian Warrior to talk him into joining us?" William suggested.

"Well whatever way we get him to join, we need him to fight Xana before it's too late." Kairaree said after they were finally out of range and back on the sidewalks.

"Xana? Who the hell is Xana?" Z said to himself as his communicator rang. Z quickly pulled it out and activated it.

"Z, my tracker showed you left your position. What happened?" Markus asked.

"Nothing really, I just stopped a mugging, that's all." Z slightly lied.

"Well in that case, I have another lead for you. There's an arms deal going down later tonight. An old 'friend' of yours is rumored to be doing the drop, interrogate him and find out what he knows. Word is the crime lord here is going to be making his move soon." Markus informed him.

"No problem, I'll report as soon as I find out what he knows. Z out." Z said as he looked up the location on his communicator and began to make his way to the place.

()()()()()()()()()

The day was about to be over and the gang decided to turn in at a nice hotel which had over twenty stories, with food, gym, spa, and so on. The gang had their dinners and decided to take a group room so they can stay close after their second assassination attempt on their lives in only a few days. The gang was settling in for the evening, some watched TV while others finished showering up, but Kairaree sat at the balcony window, looking out into the tower light filled city,

Hey Kairaree, are you all right?" Sam asked her from the couch she was sitting on.

"You've been looking down since we lost that other warrior," Yumi added while still in her hotel bathrobe.

"It's just that... we've never had one of the warriors walk away like that before. I'm worried we wont be able to get him to join." Kairaree replied.

"We will, we just have to convince him, just like we did with Aracane, you, and Knulgen. So we will get him to join somehow." Aelita said, joining in to help cheer her up too.

"After all, if we can get someone like Knulgen to join us, then we should get that guy easy as well." Aracane said.

"Hey! I heard that big boy, you want to start something?" Knulgen said as he jumped up from another couch and pulled his sword out.

"Be warned Knulgen, I always finish what I start." Aracane said as he picked up his ax near his bed, preparing for Knulgen's assault. Aracane and Knulgen continued to argue while the gang got in between them to stop them while Kairaree kept looking out the window, still trying to figure out what this other thing she was feeling is.

()()()()()()()()()

It was a little past eleven. The moons illuminated the city's more darker areas as five men waited for the arms dealer behind a small abandoned warehouse near an open parking lot.

"Man, when is that guy going to get here?" The human thug said.

"Don't worry, he'll be here. This guy is the Kingpins top guy. We wont be walking around with these pea shooters any longer." The Lizardin thug said as he waved his handgun.

"You know I here a few of those black coat people are here, I heard one of them hit a drug drop location last night and killed them all." The Molknuc thug said a little nervous while looking around the parking area.

"That's just a rumor. It was hit by some other gang, but the King Pin will be taking care of whoever they were soon." The Aquamarin thug said.

"Even if it was a black coat, there's no way they know we are here, this meeting is completely secret." The Arachun thug said. Just then, Z dropped down from a ledge and knocked the Arachun thug out cold with a collapsible baton. **( A/N: It's that police issued thing with a little ball on the top, I'm not sure what it's fully called)**

"What was that?" One of them shouted. Z jumped out from the shadows with another baton in hand and with a quick strike to the face, knocked the Lizardin thug out. The others finally saw the sunglasses wearing teen and began to take out their guns, but he was too quick as he attacked the Aquamarin thug with a quick strike to his stomach then the back of his head and rendering him unconscious. The human thug tried to attack him with a brick but Z dodged and did a triple strike to his head, putting him down too. The Molknuc thug pulled out his gun and aimed, but Z tossed his baton at the thugs gun, making him drop it and threw the other one to his head and taking down the last one.

After a few minutes Z heard someone coming and walked into the shadows to hide. "Sure thing babe, I got connections to the way top." A Human man was talking on his cellphone while carrying a large duffel bag. He wore sleek but simple looking clothes. He then stopped talking and look at the unconscious men that were waiting for him. "Baby I'm going have to call you back." He said as he hung up his phone.

"Hello Tarel, back to working with scum? You've only been out of prison for a few months." Z said as he walked out from the shadows.

"Hey there Z, what's going on? I just got back from the gym, getting my work out on, but your looking good. How you been? Tarel said as he put his duffel bag down to the ground.

"Using guns for weights now, Tarel?" Z asked sarcastically.

"Shit... you little, annoying, punk ass, mother fucker!" Tarel yelled as he bent down and pulled out a shotgun and pumped off a few rounds blindly. After a few rounds, he stopped to catch his breath after that desperate attack. "I got him. Wait a sec, where did he go?" Tarel said out loud, looking for him.

"Right here Tarel." Z yelled as he grabbed him from behind and roughly forced him to the building wall.

"Oh shit man!" Tarel yelled as Z slammed him front first into the wall.

"The Kingpin's been bringing in a lot more muscle lately, so I know he's getting desperate, he even rehired you. I need too know why he's trying to take control of all the gangs in the city, what's he up to!" Z demanded, holding him harder to the wall.

"Why don't you take a nice long suck on my co-aaaaahhhh!" Tarel yelled as Z twisted his arm farther back. "Okay man, shit, it has something to do with the cartels. The last shipment came up very light. The Kingpin had some lord from a village far away from here working for him. Rumor has it the lord was killed by a Arachun teen with a huge ax. And after the commotion in that area, the Governor of that region came and found the drugs in one of the lords warehouses and shut the place down." Tarel spilled in pain by Z's hold.

"Your lying Tarel!" Z yelled.

"No, it's the truth, the lord of that village gets the drugs, then his workers process it, then send it over here by the train in the back of the carts that are under a different name on the crates. Then the Kingpin's men sell it then use half of the money to by the guns for his men." Tarel went on.

"Then why is the Kingpin trying to get the other gangs under his control?" Z said, tightening his grip.

"Word is the Kingpin made a deal with some unseen guy, I heard it in the Kingpins last meeting with some representatives of that guy awhile back. The kingpin gets the gangs under his thumb, then the mystery guy gets the city turned over to the Kingpin, then the Kingpin turns over thousands of gang members from different factions to the mystery guy." Tarel said.

"Who is this mystery guy? Did these representatives give his name?" Z demanded.

"All I heard them say was their master's name is Xana or something. I swear I don't know anything else about the guy." Tarel begged.

"And what about the weapons? Why does he need them?" Z demanded.

"The Kingpin was told to get all the gangs under his control. Either by money or force, and I even heard recently that the Kingpin put a bounty on the Arachun teen and some other teens that was with him. One was a Molknuc guy, while another was a Lizardin girl, and a Cataranion guy, and three human boys and three human girls. They got that section of his cartel shut down, thus putting a huge hold on his shipment." Tarel went on.

Z could not believe it, he met those other teens earlier. He now knew he must find them and get to the bottom of this mystery and find out who this Xana is.

"What is the Kingpins name? Tell me now or I will kill you." Z said as he pulled out his gun and aimed it at Tarel's head.

"It's- it's that city council, the one that runs the gang and drug counter branch. Robert Hallmon, he runs the whole operation. He's been in charge since the beginning. Once the mayors dealt with, he will become the mayor and run the city however he want's to, and that's all I know. Now please let me go man." Tarel begged.

Z let him go and walked off, leaving Tarel on the ground, rubbing his sore wrist. Z then pulled out his communicator and called Markus.

"Markus. It's worse then we thought, Robert Hallmon is the kingpin. He's got a big plan in the works and I think the mayor is in danger." Z said in a rush.

"I can't believe it, we had or suspicions, but we didn't think he was the Kingpin. I will make sure the mayor is well guarded without drawing attention, head back to base so we can plot our next course of action." Markus said.

"Understood Markus, I'll explain the other parts of his plans with the gangs when I get back, Z out." He said as he turned off his communicator and put it away. "And I will get to the bottom of my own case with those guys I met earlier today. I guess I do need to hear them out of this Xana guy after all." Z said to himself as he made his way back to his base. Unaware of how much of a change his life was about to go though soon.

**END CHAPTER.**


	10. MIDNIGHT BATTLE AT THE WAREHOUSE

**CHAPTER 10: MIDNIGHT BATTLE AT THE WAREHOUSE**

DAY 8

Another day on Earthera, another day the Earth born gang has been on this new far off world filled with new people and lands. The gang started they're day by waking up and going down to the fancy hotels dining area. "So guys, what's the plan on finding that black coat guy?" Aracane asked them as they took their seats with plates of food.

"I guess we will just use the amulet and find him and try to talk him into joining us." Aelita shrugged as she ate her food.

"Hey where's Odd? I haven't seen him since we got in here." Sam asked looking for him.

"Uh, I think I know where." Ulrich said as he pointed to the open breakfast bar.

"Oh good lord." was all Jeremie said.

"Those people in line behind him look pissed." Yumi said as they all looked over to where Odd was as he filled his plates with food. Thankfully Sam went over and gently pulled Odd away from the omelet platter and brought him to the table.

"So anyway, after we finish our breakfast, we look for this mystery warrior and get him to join us." Kairaree said going over the days plan.

"By any means, right?" Knulgen asked with a wicked smile.

"Except without violence." Kairaree glared at him.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied then put his hands behind his head and leaned back on his chair.

"Let's just hope we find him again." Aracane pointed out.

"No sweat, if we found him by accident, then we might find him if we really work at it." William said as they all soon finished their breakfast.

The gang left the nice hotel after checking out and began they're search for the black coat teen. Hours passed as the gang searched, the amulet not giving a clear reading on where the black coat teen was. Unlike the rural areas, the people of the city couldn't help but look at them, as if they were some kind of wonder. It was obvious that in city's, people don't see much armed warriors wondering the streets.

It was about noon and the gang still didn't have any leads on where the black coat teen was, they took in the sites and landmarks of the city to keep themselves calm, although Knulgen threaten a few vendors and news stand seller. The gang made they're way to a large fountain where it shot water from it's nozzles in various interval, making quite a show. They sat at the fountains seating area that went around the whole structure.

"We've been searching for hours. Where is this guy?" Odd said as he laid down on the stone seat.

"If we knew where he was, we would have found him by now." Jeremie replied.

"Stop you two, fighting wont help us." Yumi said to them.

"Can't blame them, we've been up and down this fucking city, only to find nothing." Knulgen rudely said to her.

"He has to be around some where, I doubt he left the city." Ulrich said.

"I just hope we find him soon." Kairaree said.

"Sooner then you all may think." A voice called out. The gang turned around to see the black coat teen come around from the other side of the fountain.

"Well look who showed up, Mr. I'm too good for you guys." Knulgen said with his arms crossed.

"Well aren't you charming." the black coat teen replied.

"Why you-" Knulgen said before Kairaree got in his way.

"Knock it off you loose sword. Sorry about him, he's a little wild. My name is Kairaee and these are my friends." She gestured.

"My name is Ulrich."

"I'm Yumi."

"Aracane of Spardaracta."

"I'm Samantha, but people call me Sam."

I'm Jeremie."

"Names Odd."

"Aelita."

"I am William."

"Knulgen, don't forget it."

The gang named out one by one. After they introduced themselves to him, the black coat teen walked closer to them, he looked at each one of them through his covered eyes. After a few moments he finally spoke up. "I will only go by my first initial, I am Z. and that is what you will know me by for now." Z said to them.

"Umm, okay. So anyway, we have a lot to tell you, if you come with us, we will explain everything." Kairaree said to him.

"No you can't, at least not here. There's some people looking for you. Apparently you all made some powerful enemies when you disrupted a drug trade in a village far from this city." Z said to them.

"Wait, you mean that village with that asshole lord?" Aracane asked.

"Yes, the lord had a deal with the Kingpin in this city. The lord and some of his men get a drug shipment and process it, then it is sent here by train and the Kingpins men sell it." Z continued.

"We took out a drug lab? Cool!" Odd said with a grin.

"Hey cat, me and to a lesser extent Aracane, are the ones who put an end to this drug ring." Knulgen said.

"Go to hell Knulgen, I'm the one who killed that lord, you just killed his men left and right like a psycho manic." Aracane said through gritted teeth.

"Alright that's it meat head, lets finish this." Knulgen said as he drew his sword and Aracane taking out his ax.

"Enough, you people have something to tell me, I have something to tell you, so follow me back to my base and we will exchange story's." Z said as he began to turn and lead them.

"Where is your base?" Ulrich asked.

"It's on ground level, but it can't be entered that way, so we need to use the roofs. So make the roofs your walkway. You guys are athletic enough, right?" Z asked, his eyebrow raised behind his sunglasses.

"We can handle it, just lead the way." William said a little cocky.

Z lead the gang to a nearby fire escape latter. They all one by one, with Aracane once again having to carry Jeremie. They climbed the latter and the alcoves that lead all the way up the twenty stories building until they got to the roof. It was then that Z began to show them the way to his base. The path was one only meant for those who were experts on traversing high elevations and sudden drops, but the gang was up for it, even more strangely the Earth born members. Guess it was they're warrior within power kicking in. After an hour of climbing, running, jumping, and a bout of vertigo that Ulrich had, but hid it from the rest. They finally landed on a seven stories building that looked really run down, the bricks were faded, the windows were bared and covered, and the door had all kinds of 'DO NOT ENTER' and 'CONDEMNED' signs plastered on the door with bars, wooden planks and chains all over the door. The building was in an old neighborhood where nobody would bother with it.

"No offense, but I'm surprised this building hasn't collapsed under our weight yet." Odd said as he looked over the ledge.

"I just hope we don't end up needing any shots." Kairaree added.

"This place only looks terrible on the outside, the inside is much better." Z said as he walked over to the stairway entrance in the middle of the roof. He opened a panel beside the door lock which obviously not apart of the original design plan. "Command, Z, clearance 023411448753, and guest." Z said into the speaker as the door unlocked and opened for them to go in.

"What was that 'guest' part you said?" William asked.

"It will scan each of you as you go in until the door closes so the security turrets won't shoot you guys into bloody piles of bullet filled meat." Z said without a change in his tone. The gang had a very stunned look on they're faces, but they need to go in anyway. They all filed in one by one as the scanner on top of the door scan them until the last one went in and the door closed and locked. The hall was dimly light as Z lead them to a door, he opened it revealing to the gangs shock. A modern command room with monitors, computers, weapon walls and all kinds of equipment and tech.

Z walked over to a large square terminal which was a touch screen that held all kinds of data and information. "Okay, you guys tell me what you need to tell me and I'll explain my story. And then I will decide on if I need to join you. First tell me who each of you are, and who this Xana is." Z said as he got ready for their explanation.

"Well here we go again on our story guys." Ulrich said. The gang once again explained their story to Z. They're life on Earth and the battles with Xana. And then being transported to Earthera and their destiny to stop Xana once and for all before he takes over the universe. After about an hour of explanations, Z paced around the room in a small circle for a few minutes, taking a few glances at them as he walked. Finally Z stopped pacing and spoke up. "So you guys are really from another planet despite your friend being turned into a Cataranion, and you guys happened to cross paths with them as well?" Z asked the group.

"It seems fate lead me to that forest where I found them in the first place." Aracane said.

"I know it looks like a long shot, but what we've said is true." Kairaree added.

"Eh, I could have taken or leave it." Knulgen said not even looking at them.

"I see, and as you said the real Xana is really on this planet?" Z asked.

"You know... you haven't even told us about howyou heard about Xana. So now you need to hold up your end of the bargain." Yumi slightly demanded.

"Fine, fair is fair." Z said as he finally took off his sunglasses and showed his dark gray eyes, Kairaree thought they were an amazing color. "As you all can tell, I'm not any ordinary teenager either. I'm with a organization called the Zarcanions, we work in secret to counter all forms of crime and terrorism and anybody else who disrupts the peace. Now as to how I know about Xana. Last night I intercepted a arms deal, and a 'friend' of mine told me about the Kingpins plans. This Xana gets the city turned over to him, and in return he gives all the gang members who are now working for the Kingpin over to him." Z said as he told his side of the story.

"Did this guy actually seen Xana?" Jeremie asked.

"No, apparently he overheard it from some representatives in a meeting the Kingpin had some time ago." Z replied.

"And who is this Kingpin?" Ulrich asked.

"A man by the name Robert Hallmon. He's in charge of the mayors drug and crime counter branch. And that bastard needs to go down by any means necessary." A voice called out to them. All of them but Z turned to see a dark skinned man walk into the room. He was dressed just like Z and wore shades too.

"Guys, this is Markus, he is a old friend has been helping me with my mission in this city." Z said as he walked over to Markus.

"I like that you are making friends, but even you know your not suppose to just bring strangers into our operations. Right Z?" Markus asked him.

"I know I'm going against the rules, but these guys have a connection to the Kingpin and this Xana." Z defended.

"Well in that, you need to prep them for the mission tonight" Markus said as he walked to the door.

"Wait what mission tonight?" Odd asked shocked.

"We have Intel on Roberts location. He has recently disappeared, and the city is looking for him. But we found that he is hiding in a warehouse on the city's outskirts where he stores the drugs, money, weapons, and any other form of illicit items." Markus explained.

"But why do you need us? Isn't there more of you?" Aelita asked.

"Yes there is, hundreds of thousands. But we are a little scarce in this area, and the others are a little tied up with their own missions right now." Z said. "So here's the new deal. You all help me with taking down the Kingpin, and I'll... join you guys. But only if you guys prove your capable fighters and we take down this Kingpin for good. Agreed?" Z finished.

The gang took a moment to reflect upon Z's request. They all looked at each other without saying a word, finally Ulrich spoke for them all. "You got a deal Z."

"Alright then, I suggest you all get some food and rest, we attack at midnight on the dot. There's a kitchen and beds the next floor down, so make yourselves at home." Z told them. The gang decide to take up Z's offer and head down to get something to eat and rest a little. "And how much of our conversation did you hear before you came in?" Z asked, not even looking at Markus.

"Pretty much all of it. Man, I never would in my life thought I would see people from another planet. And beings from another realm telling them and you were chosen by destiny? That would be the discovery of the millennium." Markus said to his young friend.

"Apart of me still doesn't believe them." Z said still in disbelief.

"I do believe them, and you know the things that go on in this world. And if you and these other warriors can stop this Xana, then you need to do your part." Markus pointed out.

"I cant just come and go in the Zarcanions as I please, Markus." Z replied.

"I can handle the higher ups, you have a part to play. And play you must or our planet is doomed." Markus said with a grim tone.

"But I have other assignments to handle after this." Z replied back.

"Z, as you know, your parents were some of the best the Zarcanions of their time. And even though this wasn't the life they wanted for you, they would be very proud of the good you've done for this organization. And you know your father and I have been like brothers ever since we were little orphans scraping by before our master found us. Then when we were apprentices, your father met your mother and we became family, especially when your father pulled me out of the fire." Markus said as he slowly ran his fingers through the burn scar on the left side of his head.

"And you think my parents would want me to join them?" Z asked.

"I know you want to join, I know it in your heart my boy. And I know you will do what's right, it's in your blood. Now get some rest too, we all got a big night ahead of us." Markus said as he finally left the room.

Z thought about what Markus said for a few minutes. He decided he will join them as long as they prove their combat skills. Z then headed down stairs to see the others settling in. He then saw Jeremie at one of the tables with the laptop Z stole the night before. "What are you doing with that? That is critical info." Z said to him as he walked over to Jeremie.

"It's all right, he said he was a computer expert, so I let him try to hack in it." Markus said as he walked back beside Jeremie with a can of soda for him.

"I already got a few files unlocked, but it will take me a little longer. But I should have it done within an hour." Jeremie said as he continued to type.

"Keep at it, who knows how many important files are on it." Markus said as he walked off to check the terminals.

"Are you really able to crack that laptop and it's files?" Z asked as he went over to where Jeremie was sitting.

"I'm amazed too, the data files are very similar to Earth's, so hacking in is very easy. But then again, after working on a supercomputer that can return you to the past, regular computers are too simple." Jeremie replied as he unlocked another file.

"So Z, how are we gonna take on a crime lord and possibly a few hundred armed guards anyway?" Ulrich asked as he walked up to Z.

"Simple, the warehouse is very large. And me and Markus and you all will carry a bunch of flashbang grenades to stun the guards. Also the warehouse has very high places for us to maneuver, and the guards only real ability is to point, shoot, and reload." Z said to them.

"But me and Aelita are not very good at fighting." Jeremie said to them.

"Which is why you two will stay here. We have a satellite link over the the warehouse, so you and Aelita can provide us with the enemies positions and movement." Z replied to him.

"All the thugs have guns? Now that sounds like a real challenge." Knulgen said as he lounged on a sofa.

"Just don't charge in like a wild man, you need to pick your targets, and attack when they are reloading. Because I doubt I can get you guys to use firearms, let alone train you in even the basics in only a few short hours." Z said looking over to Knulgen.

"Whatever." Knulgen said as he once again put his hands behind his back.

"Alright now guys, at 10:30 pm we will prepare, then we will go over the mission and we will arrive there before midnight." Z said as everyone agreed and went about they're business.

()()()()()()

After a few hours the gang began their preparations. They each got a harness that carried twenty grenades each. "Excellent guys, those bastards wont know what hit them." Z said as everyone adjusted they're harness.

"What about you? Your not prepared." Yumi asked.

"I was just about too." Z said as he walked over to a large locker. He opened it and to the gangs surprise, it was filled with guns and knives and other items. Z then began to arm himself. He strapped a shotgun and assault rifle to his back. He then holstered four more handguns inside his coat with his other two personal handguns, strapped a few combat knives to his sides and attach some others to his boots and put back on his two forward curved machetes to his back holsters, and then strapped a belt of grenades around his waist, a Uzi under his left arm holster and sawed-off double barrel shotgun under his right arm holster, and several hundred ammo clips, magazines and shells into the many pockets and hidden compartments of his coat and armored outfit. And finally, a big long barrel revolver pistol.

"Are we taking down a cartel? Or going to war?" Odd jokingly asked.

"When it comes to scum like this, you can't go easy on them at all." Z simply said.

"All right then, let's go over the mission." Markus said as he walked over to a screen that showed a digital readout of the area that they were gonna be at soon. "We will first make our way to this twelve story building that is across from the warehouse that Robert and his men are in. Then we will launch a military grade grappling system, which will allow us to have a route in and out of the warehouse. We will then make our way into the building taking different paths and eliminate opponents as we go. After we take out a number of enemy's, we will track and find Robert Hallmon, and take him out. Any questions?" Markus asked as the projection finally finish showing the details of they're plan.

Odd then raised his hand. "How are we gonna keep in touch with each other?" He asked.

"We have these earpieces that are linked to each other. There long range and will allow us to keep in touch, just talk into the mic." Markus said as he took out a small box from under the table. The earpieces were small and fit right into the ear with long thin cords connected to a small box which was their battery.

Everybody but Jeremie and Aelita grabbed one. "These are so cool, I feel like a secret agent." William said as he fitted the earpiece into his ear and laced the wire through his shirt, then attached the battery to his belt.

"Now as for Jeremie and Aelita, they will stay here and feed us info on our enemy's. And thanks to Jeremie cracking the laptop, we found out that a great deal of Roberts best men will be in there tonight. Apparently they are having a big meeting, and finalizing their plans on taking over the city." Z said as everybody finished placing there earpieces.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's do this." Ulrich said as they all head to the top of the building. After they arrived at the roof, they began to make they're way to the warehouse by the roofs of the city's building like they did earlier that day.

()()()()()()()

In the warehouse where the gangs target resides, Robert Hallmon. A well respected public servant and revered man. At least by the people of Novalight City, on the edge of his nerves. He was a middle aged human man with dark brown hair with white streaks and a few wrinkles on his face and wearing a white suit with jewel cuffs. Sat in a high priced red leather chair at a long table in a private room where he held his meetings with ten of his other high ranked men, sitting across from him.

"My reputation is in question, I have the mayor's personal officers keeping their eyes on me, and some of my best men are dead, and I'm beginning to loose control of the gangs that I had under my control. So tell me," He said as he slammed his hands on the table and rose up from his seat. "Why are all these problems not being dealt with!?" He yelled at his men.

The other gang members were startled by there bosses outburst. Finally one of them spoke up. "Well sir, a lot of the safe-houses have been assaulted and run over by some unknown assailant and those places have been seized by the cops." One of the gang man said.

"And that is the problem, one person... one person who over powered and killed armed men, and took vital information on my plans. Now I know it isn't the police, and I know it's not any government agent either, so what is it?" He asked his men, even though he knew they didn't have an answer.

"Maybe, maybe it was a... Zarcanion?" Another gangster suggested.

"Don't be a fool. We kept our operation quiet enough to not attract they're attention. Besides, a Zarcanion attack is the least of my problem." Robert said as he leaned back into his seat. As he relaxed another gang member walked into the room with a phone in his hand on silence.

"Sir, there is an associate of yours needing to talk to you." He whispered to him.

"Who is it? If you can not see, I am having a meeting." Robert snapped at him.

"But sir, he said it is important, he said his name is X." The gangster said.

A look of fear spread across his. "Your all dismissed for now." He said to them and his top men all left the room. Robert then took the phone and the gangster left the room as well. "X, what do I owe the pleasant surprise call." He timidly said into the phone

"_I hear that you have been having some problems keeping those gangs under your control." _A cold and menacing voice came from the other end of the phone.

"No, just a few delays, nothing that I can't handle." Robert replied with his voice quivering slightly.

"_I would think that someone like you would be able to handle a few thousand gang members. Maybe I should have relied on somebody else?"_

No X, I will take care of it, I just need a little more time, and you will have your army worth of gangs soon."

"_For your sake, I would hope so. It would be a shame if you need to be 'relieved' of your position, and I would have to let one of my own be in charge." _The voice hissed.

"It will be taking care of. In less then a week, you will have the gangs, and I will be in charge of this city." Robert practically begged.

"_Good, I will contact you later on the final parts of the plan. Do not disappoint me, if any more problems come up, you will be taking out of this, and the city will be mine instead." _The voice said as the phone hung up, leaving Robert worried and nervous of his employer's warning.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang, Z, and Markus finally reached they're destination on the roof of the building across the street of the warehouse. The warehouse was long and rectangular in shape, almost like an aircraft hanger with various decks on top of the roofs where one of the entrances they needed to get in.

"Alright, testing, testing, one, two, three. Jeremie, Aelita, can you here us?" Z said into his earpiece.

"Yeah we can here you, and we have a read out on you guys and your location. Ready for the phase of the mission." Jeremie replied.

"From what we can see, there are over three hundred people from the infrared, all over the building, and ten outside the front." Aelita added in.

"Good, and you know how the 3D mapping works too, and the dots with our names over each one." Z continued.

"Yes, it was easy for us to work out, we'll keep you all updated, good luck guys." Jeremie replied, hoping they pull through.

"Okay guys, we got eyes in the sky, and we got a lay of the land. Markus, ready for the next phase?" Z asked his old master.

"You know it lad." Markus replied with a smile. He dropped the very large case that was around the size of a guitar case. He opened it to reveal a turret like grapple system, he set it up on it's four legs and then anchored the front legs to the building edge, then went to the back end of the long tube like top and pulled out a extending grapple hook with a flexible steel cable and attached it to a large pipe like system to give the grapple system a more solid hold.

"All right guys, step back." Markus told them as he went to the side and opened a panel system with the turrets trigger and targeting system. He then aimed it at the nearest roof platform. He then opened the pressure valve and lined up his shot. With a smile he pulled the trigger and with a bang, the grapple hook shot out as the reel spun the cable out until the hook finally landed on the roofs floor opening and reeled it in until it was taut and secure.

"Good shot as always Markus. Now guys, take a motor line and glide down the line." Z said as he picked up a handle from the grapple case with a box like system on top with two wheels on the top and bottom of the box where a cable would go in between and wrist strap for extra precaution from the case.

"Motor lines, how do we use these?" Odd asked as he looked at his.

"Just put the cable between the wheels and secure the wright strap, and hold on." Z said as he walked to the line and attached it and ride down the cable.

"Before we join him, I need to ask you guys something." Markus turned to them. The gangs face had a puzzled look on there faces.

"What is it you need?" Kairaree wondered.

"I need you guys to become Z's friends, he may not look it, but he is very lonely. Even when he's with me or others of our organization. He needs friends like you guys at his back. I know he looks hard to handle, but he is a good person, just trust him and he will come around." Markus said as he redyed his line.

"How can we even get through to him? He's like a vault in a safe house." William asked.

"Trust me, you will in time. He's really great once you get to know him. Even if his personality is a little cold." Markus finished as he rode down the line.

"Last one down buys us lunch!" Odd said as he rode down next.

"It won't be me!" William yelled as he went down next. Then Kairaree, then Sam, then Aracane, then Knulgen.

"Well Ulrich, ready to take out a cartel?" Yumi asked with a smile.

"The things we do to get people on our side. Right Yumi?" Ulrich asked with a smirk.

"Just be careful. This isn't Lyoko, and we only get one life." Yumi said as she rode down the line next.

"You be careful too Yumi." Ulrich said to himself then finally rode down the line to join the others.

()()()()()()()()()

After Ulrich joined the rest, Z hacked the keypad lock with a hacking tool and disabled the alarms. Everyone sneaked in and walked down the stairs into the middle of the low level areas. The warehouse was filled with large wide shelves that went all the way to the roof, and crates filled with all kinds of weapons, drugs, and other contraband's that would put a person in prison for decades. And even some warehouse equipment and illicit, high-priced cars. The guards paced around with various firearms and patrolling the areas of the warehouse.

"Okay guys, moment of truth. Be at your guard." Z whispered to them.

"So what do we do? How do we tackle this?" William whispered back. They were trying to think up a plan to get the guards distracted for a little while.

Sam looked over to a high and very poorly stacked crates very close to where the guards were. "Guys, I think I have a plan." Sam said as she left the group from their hiding spot without saying another word.

"Sam! Wait, hold on." Odd whispered a little louder, but she was already gone. Sam stayed in the shadows and poorly light areas and made her way behind the massive shelves where the crates were. She climbed to the top, out of the guards view. She got to the middle of the stake and laid her back against the inner wall and one by one, put her booted feet to the crates and used all her strength and pushed the already unstable crates. The crates toppled and fell like a tower to the ground, the guards noticed and in a haste, ran away from the crates path. But a few guards got caught under the crates, adding more time to the distraction.

"What the hell happened!" "You idiots, I told you all to stake these better." "Stop bitching and get us out from under here!" The guards were yelling and fussing over helping the trapped guards and on how the men assigned to the job of staking the crates did a terrible job.

Everybody was amazed by Sam's plan as she made her way back to her group from they're vantage point, Yumi giving her a pat on the back.

"Great plan Sam. Now that their distracted, we can split into groups and find the Robert Hallmon and take him out." Z said to the group.

"So what's the plan?" Kairaree asked.

"This is how we will do it." Markus stepped in "Z, Kairaree, and Ulrich, will go in one group. William, Sam, and Odd will go in another group. While me, Aracane, Yumi, and Knulgen will go in our group. First group will search for Robert, while second group will secure the north side, and finally we will secure the area where the crates were knocked over. We will take out the thugs as quietly as possible, but a fight is inevitable, so be ready to take them out." Markus says to them.

"But Markus, we have never killed before. And we can't just do it right away either." Yumi told him.

"Well I have, and I got no problem killing either." Knulgen said to them.

"You are such a psycho, killing is not an easy decision to make." Aracane sneered at him.

"Hey man, if they want to live, then they gotta take lives to do so. You should know that more then anybody." Knulgen said while putting his hands behind his head.

"I know that! I know just as much as you do, I have killed many times before, and I will have to kill more in order to survive. But that still doesn't mean you can just do it with out regrets. And further more-" Aracane said before Markus stopped them.

"Cool it you two, or we will get exposed before we get in good positions. So clam up and move out." Markus said with a slightly raised voice. They all then made their way to ground level and split off into they're groups. A few tedious minutes passed as the group searched and made their way to the designated positions.

()()()()()()()()()()

Markus, Knulgen, Aracane, and Yumi stayed close to the walls of the warehouses maze of shelves, crates, boxes, and so on. Markus stopped them by holding his hand up, signaling them to stop. Some guards were passing by as they patrolled the area. After they passed, Markus and his group continued their route to take out they're targets. Just as they were about to reach their position, one of the guards came running into the middle of the warehouse.

"Guys, we have intruders, I found a grappling hook attached to one of the rooftops." The thug shouted.

"Spread out, find them!" A higher ranked thug said as he cocked his weapon.

"Looks like our fight is already underway." Markus said as he redyed his assault rifle.

"Good, I don't like sneaking around anyway." Knulgen said as he draw his sword with a smile.

"Just don't go in without thinking ahead." Aracane warned as he draw his ax out.

"Yeah, we need a plan before we have to fight them." Yumi added.

"Over here, I found some of them!" Markus, Knulgen, Yumi, and Aracane looked behind them to see a few guards and more coming with their guns ready. Their positions found and they're lives already in danger.

"So guys, what's the plan now?" Knulgen said as he raised his sword, ready to attack

**END CHAPTER.**


	11. THE FALL OF A KINGPIN

**CHAPTER 11: THE FALL OF A KINGPIN**

The gangs cover has been blown, the guards have found the grappling hook on the roof entrance. And now Markus and his group have been found.

**(A/N: remember, the thugs are different species, so use your imaginations on what they look like and how thugs should be dressed, enjoy)**

"Drop your weapons and put your hands up now!" One of the guards shouted at them.

"Hell no, if you want my weapon, come and get it you bastards." Knulgen said as he readied his sword.

"They got us out gunned, we can't fight them like this." Markus said as he slowly raised his hands.

"There's got to be something we can do. Maybe Yumi and I can-" Aracane said as he looked behind him only to find Yumi gone. "What the... Where did she go?" Aracnae said in shock.

"That little bitch! She left us here to die!" Knulgen said with great fury.

"You know, you should be more kind to people who are about to save you." Yumi's voice came from behind the armed guards. She was standing on top of a small stack of crates behind all the guards. The guards quickly turned to her and aimed their weapons at her.

"Get down from there and keep your hands up." One of the guards demanded.

"Okay, okay boys, I'll come down. But first... catch!" Yumi yelled as she quickly reached behind her back and threw two small cylinders from behind her back and at the guards. One hit the ground in the middle of the guards, while one guard caught it.

"What the fuck are these?" One off them shouted.

"Cover your eyes now!" Markus ordered to his group.

"Oh shit! Flash-bangs!" The guard who caught one of the grenades shouted.

BANG!

The grenades detonated and unleashed a blinding flash and ear splitting bang. The guards were stunned, some dropped their weapons to cover their burning eyes, and ringing ears.

"Now that was quick thinking." Markus said to her amazed.

"Thank guys, that will keep them busy for a few minutes." Yumi said, coming in from behind them.

"Yumi, when did you leave our group?" Aracane asked.

"I saw some guards coming from behind us, so I figured I would only get one shot at stunning them." Yumi explained.

"And then you made your way back here when the grenades went off, cleaver I guess." Knulgen said unenthusiastic.

"If I haven't done that, you guys could have been dead." Yumi said, gritting her teeth at him.

"Kill these bastards now guys!" One of the guards shouted as he regained his focus, as well the others.

"Stand back, I'll handle them." Markus shouted and aimed his assault rifle. He unloaded at the group of thugs. Blood splattered the shelves and floor around them as the fifty round weapon killed the men in front of them. The clip was empty, but some of them were still half alive. Markus simply loaded a fresh clip and fired at them again, killing them all for good.

"Gotta say, that was kind of cool." Knulgen said after removing his hands from his ears.

"I'm beginning to wonder if your going to be just as much of a danger to us, as you will be to our enemies." Aracane said with concern.

"Hey man, it's kill or be killed. So being as dangerous as possible is the only way to go. Right Yumi? Yumi?" Knulgen asked looking at her.

Yumi had a stunned look on her face for looking at the dead and bloody bodies of the fallen thugs. She knew they were terrible people, and would have killed them without a second thought. But until now, she has never seen dead people in front of her even after watching a lot of slasher films, just one of the things of being the goth girl. But it's never the same in real life, and it made her a little sick to her stomach.

"Yumi, are you alright?" Aracanes voice finally breaking her stunned stance.

"Ye- yes, I'm fine. I've just never have seen... dead people before." Yumi replied slowly.

"I know it's hard the first time, but right now we need to get moving or we will end up dead too." Markus said putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Guys, can you hear me?" Jeremie's voice crackling in over the earpieces.

"We can hear you, what do you got little man?" Markus asked, putting his finger to the earpiece.

"Our sensors are showing more enemy's coming to your position. I suggest you get moving." Aelita added for Jeremie.

"Thanks kids, keep us updated." Markus said to them before turning to his group. "You guys heard them, let's move out." Markus ordered as he loaded a new clip and cocked his rifle. And so they began to move to find a new position of attack.

()()()()()()()()()

On the other side of the massive warehouse. Z, Kairaree, and Ulrich, heard the commotion and radioed the others. "Markus, we heard gunfire, was that your weapon?" Z radioed.

"Yeah that was me, I'm sure you heard our presence has been discovered and the enemy's are on our asses." Markus radioed back.

"We heard that loud mouth Knulgen too, I'll call the other group." Z replied then switched the signal. "William, Odd, Sam. Are you guys okay?" Z radioed.

()()()()()()()()

On another part of the warehouse. "Yeah we're fine. From the sound of it, no more hide and seek huh?" William replied back. The three where standing behind some crates while a number of guards were searching the area while staying on their guard.

()()()()()()()()

(Back to Z, Kairaree, and Ulrich) "I suggest you guys stay hidden, we need to pick and choose our targets, so to coordinate better, I'm switching to open mic so we don't have to keep switching signals anymore." Z said as he switched the mode on his earpieces box at his waist.

"Okay so what's the plan now?" William asked over his com.

"Stop right there kids." A thugs voice yelled out over Williams mic.

"What the-" Was all William could say until the sound of multiple automatic gunfire was heard over the mics.

"William, Sam, Odd!" Ulrich yelled into his mic, not getting a response.

"No, no they can't be, they just can't." Kairaree whispered to herself.

"Don't talk like that, they're tough. They will be alright. But right now, we need to move, or we will get killed." Z encouraged to her.

"Guys listen, there's more coming your way. Get out of there now." Aelita's voice called in.

"You heard the lady, let's get out of here." Ulrich said as they began to move.

()()()()()()()

Meanwhile with Markus, Aracane, Yumi, and Knulgen.

"Aww shit, fuck, shit, dammit!" Knulgen swore as him and his other teammates was being chased by more guards firing off some rounds every now and so.

"Keep running, we'll loose them soon!" Yumi shouted to him over the gunfire.

"I got an idea." Aracane said as he took two flash-bangs from his vest and pulled the pins with his teeth. After a few seconds he dropped them and detonated just in time right under the guards feet. The grenades blinded the thugs, some stopped in their tracks while some tripped and hit the ground hard. "Alright now, no more running. For Spardaracta!" Aracane roared as he charged the thugs with his ax raised. He swung his ax and killed the three guards in front of him with one blow, a splatter of blood went across his face and under his eyes. He then raised his ax and took down another one and finally swung his ax into the chest of the last one so hard, he slammed the thugs body against the wall.

"Show off, taking all the fun." Knulgen muttered.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you will get your bloodlust fill yet." Aracane replied, as he walked back to them with blood trickling down his ax.

"Great, more killing for Knulgen." Yumi said dead panned.

"Here come's some more!" Markus shouted as several more thugs round the corner. Markus opened fire on them and shot them down. After they were, down more came into view. Markus had enough with the hoard and put his hand under the barrel of his rifle, to a pump under a tube. "Get ready kids, this packs a punch." Markus shouted as he pumped it and a grenade popped out and at the new guards. The grenade exploded and killed the guards easy, and blew off some of the crates and other junk from the shelves.

()()()()()()()()()

In the warehouses office rooms. In the main office, Robert was lying on his desk, face down on his hands with a empty bottle of scotch next to him, he was awaken by a loud explosion. He sprung up and began to hear gunshots as well. "What is going on out there?" He said to himself as he got up, staggered a little and headed out of his office and into the warehouse stock rooms. He entered the warehouse stock area, which was a level higher so he can look out and see almost all of the warehouse. Robert looked down and saw one of his top men. "Curt, what the fuck is going on?" He demanded.

"Sir, we got intruders, two of them are black coats sir, actual black coats!" He replied.

"Two black coats? Two can't be doing this much damage!" Robert yelled back.

"We saw some other warriors with them as well. I think they must be hired mercenary's or something." The gangster Curt replied.

"No, no, no, no, no, dammit no. This shit can't be happening. If my contact hears about this, then it's over for me." Robert said to himself. "Lock this place down, tell the men to take those bastards out, and don't use guns unless you have a clear shot. Use pipes or other blunt weapons, if this stuff gets damaged from you trigger happy fools, then it's worthless. And one more thing, if any of you let word of this get out, I will kill whoever squeals, got it?" Robert ordered.

"ye-ye-yes sir, right away." Curt said, trembling a little from his bosses last words, and ran off to tell the others, and leaving the Kingpin to from a plan

()()()()()()()()

"I still can't reach William and the others, I hope they're okay." Ulrich said to his group.

"If you guys are as good as you claim, then they'll be fine. Right now we need to fight off these men." Z replied as he redyed his pump shotgun.

"Here they come." Kairaree pointed as more came into.

Z quickly ran over to a stack of crates and pulled them down, creating a pile with a small opening to narrow the enemy's range and give his shotgun a straight range. The thugs came in range and Z fired away. One after another Z fired off his shotgun and took down the thugs who couldn't even get a chance to aim and fire back. The shotgun was finally out after ten shells and Z and his group retreated from their position while Z reloaded his shotgun while they ran.

They ran down the narrow hall until they came into an open area. It was the main hall area that started from the entrance and all the way into the back with the rows and rows of shelves through it. The area had crates and equipment laid about and some spots which seemed like 'living' areas where the guards would set up make-shift tables and chairs for eating or playing cards or any other thing that the men on guard duty would do.

"Were in the open, so stay close." Z said as he raised his shotgun. They stayed close together as they walked down the main hall.

Out of the shadows, two men ran up behind Z and pointed they're guns at the back of his head."Stop right there Zarcanion, try anything funny and we'll blow your head off!" One of them shouted. "Drop your gun now." The other shouted.

Z placed the gun down and slowly raised his hands. "Sorry guys, but your not my type, appreciate it, but sorry." He replied jokingly, not even showing fear for his life.

Ulrich and Kairaree stood a few feet from him, caught off guard and angry at themselves for letting those thugs get the drop on them as they looked at Z with worry, unsure on what to do. Just then, over a dozen more thugs came out from the hallways. They had their guns away and were holding long pipes or 2X4's and any other from of blunt object.

"So the intruders are a bunch of kids! A bunch of kids, who are about to have their sad, little lives cut short. I don't know what compelled you kids to do this? But I got to say, that took balls, too bad our boss ordered us to kill you all." The higher up gangster Curt who was ordered by Robert to relay his order to the others. He was far better dressed then the others, and wasn't carrying a blunt weapon, instead a large handgun in the back of his pants.

"Are you another one of Robert's stooges?" Z questioned.

"Yes young lad, I am one of his top men. When he's not around, I'm in charge, and you kids are done for. Guys, kill these two while our black coat friend watches, beat them until there's nothing but a bloody stain on the floor, and then I will kill the Zar. Put one right between the eyes." Curt laughed as he mimicked shooting Z with his finger.

The thugs forced Kairaree and Ulrich into the center as they surrounded them with their blunt weapons ready. "Looks like it's just you and me Kai." Ulrich said as he unsheathed his swords.

"Are you ready Ulrich? Are you ready to take a life to survive?" Kairaree asked him as she pulled out her main double-bladed dagger which was strapped to the front of her belt.

"I-I can't, I can't do it." Ulrich replied as he lowered his swords.

"Then you better knock them out hard Ulrich, because they are more then happy to kill you." Kairaree said as one thug charged at her and swung his pipe, but Kai quickly dodged and stabbed the man in the back killing him.

"You little bitch! Just for that, I'm gonna fuck you before we kill you." One of them shouted.

Kairaree heard the thug and in anger, threw her boot strapped dagger at him and got him right in his neck, killing him too. Another one quickly ran up behind her to strike her with his pipe, but Ulrich stepped in and sliced the pipe in half stunning the thug.

"Sorry pal, no sneak attacks!" Ulrich said with a smile and round-housed kick the man right in the face. Two more with planks charged at him at once, but Ulrich ducked as they both swung at the same time. As he was on his knees, he turned the blades around and hit them right in their stomachs, making them fall to the ground in pain from the blunt side of his swords. After Ulrich took down the two thugs, three more stepped up, two in front and one behind. Ulrich quickly kicked up the plank that one of the other thugs dropped and kicked it at the legs of one of the men charging at him from the front, tripping him and hitting the ground hard.

As the other one finally got close enough to attack, Ulrich bent down and made the man roll on Ulrich's back, flipping him into the man that came up behind him, sending them both to the ground. One of the guards had enough and aimed his assault rifle lining up a shot, suddenly a chain with a weight at the end wrapped around the barrel of his gun. Kairaree had throw her chain weapon and was holding the curved blade handle in her other hand, she pulled the gun out of his hands and swung it around, hitting the man in the head, knocking him out cold with the heavy weapon.

Ulrich turned to the commotion and saw how close to being killed. "Thanks Kairaree, looks like I owe you." He said to her. A thug came after Kairaree, but she dodged and cut the man deep across the shoulder with the blade of her chain weapon but the man was still standing. He tried to hit her with his pipe, but she used her chain to knock it out of his hands and cut him with the curved blade several times, leaving a number of deep cuts until she delivered a killing blow to the side of his neck.

The thugs holding their rifles to the back of Z's head were stun by Ulrich and Kairaree's fighting skills and taking down their fellow gang members that Z used their distraction and ducked under their rifles and got in between them and grabbed the gun barrels and pulled them out of their hands and hit them both. As they fell to the ground, Z then threw the rifles and pulled out his double-barrel saw-off shotgun from his right underarm holster.

"whoa! Wait kid-" BANG!

"Hold on a minute-" BANG!

Z shot each of the men with the two shell weapons single fire setting. "Now for you." Z said as he turned to the higher up thug Curt.

"Stop right there you Zar." He said as he pulled out his handgun. But then a dagger from Kairaree's right arm guard strapped dagger flew and strike the man's gun out of his hand. Z walked closer to him. "Hold on there young man, you and your friends are smart kids, and smart kids like money. Lo-lo-look, there's tons of stuff in here worth a lot of money. You want a new car? Take it, we got plenty to choose from. Maybe some jewels or money? Take as much as you all can carry. There's also all kinds of guns, can't go wrong with guns. Or better yet, drugs, lots and lots of drugs, you can have a party and invite your classmates! You would be the most popular kids in school. That is if you kids go to school." Curt pleaded as Z loaded two new shells into his saw-off.

"There is nothing you can offer us that we want. Now tell us where Robert Hallmon, so we can deal with him." Z demanded as he switched his saw-off to double fire.

"Okay fine, he's in the warehouses office areas, I think he's getting ready for a full assault. He sounded like he was going to be in a lot of trouble with his contacts or whatever. And that's all I know I swear." Curt finished pleading.

"Thank you for the assistance." BANG! Z shot him dead center in the face, blowing most of his front face off with both shells.

"That was a little unnecessary." Ulrich said as he walked over to Z.

"What's done is done. Besides, he would have tried to kill us again if given the chance." Z replied as he loaded his saw-off again.

"So where is the warehouse office areas at?" Kairaree asked them as she gathered her daggers.

"You won't find it punks!" A voice yelled out. The group turned to see three thugs lined up with LMG type guns and ready to fire. "All right boys, ready, aim, fi-" SMACK, THUD, CRACK.

Each of the men were hit in the back of the heads and fell to the ground. Ulrich, Kairaree, and Z were happy to see the friends that were out of contact for a long time. William, Sam, and Odd knocked each of the men out. Odd with the gauntlet that housed his claws, Sam with her blunt tonfa, and William with the flat side of his butcher blade sword.

"Odd! William! Sam! Thank god, you're all okay." Ulrich called out as they ran over to them.

"Well, mostly all right" William said as they took a closer look at their recently MIA friends. William had a lightly bloody cut line from a stray bullet at the side of his neck. Odd with a nick on his left shoulder. And Sam with a cut on her exposed right arm near the elbow.

"I'm just glad it's not worse, you guys really had a brush with death." Kairaree said to her friends with relief that their injuries are not too serious.

"That's what we in the business call 'a real dodging the bullet' guys." Z said to them.

"So Z, what's the plan now? In case you didn't notice, this whole party has really gotten crazy." Odd exclaimed.

"And we still don't know where the others are. How will we find him?" Sam asked.

"I think I have an idea. We simply follow the gunshots, and from what I've been told about your friend Knulgen, we shouldn't have any problem finding them." Z said as he cocked his assault rifle.

"Okay then, let's find or friends and our sword swinging Knulgen." William said as the now larger group ran off into the direction of the gunfire.

()()()()()()()()()()

Markus was leaning against a wall as several thugs were firing off their assault rifles. Markus reloaded another clip and came up with a plan, he quickly threw another flash-bang and blinded the men. After that he took the opening and ran, but not before shooting a grenade in the blind thugs direction. Markus had been separated from Yumi, Aracane, and Knulgen for some time, they got ambushed and were out of contact since, but Markus was beginning to get back on they're trail by simply following the sound of sword and ax attacks. Not far from Markus position. Knulgen, Yumi, and Aracane were battling it out with over thirty gang members carrying pipes, planks, chains, crowbars, and even a few imported swords for general's status who never got them.

"I can't believe we lost Markus, I hope he's okay." Yumi said as she had fan and short sword drawn.

"Looks like we got ourselves in quite a jam." Aracane said as he redyed for another wave.

"It's like you said, looks like I'll get my bloodlust yet." Knulgen replied as he charged the men. He ran straight into the group, slicing them down one by one. Even after they surrounded him, he still cut them down with ease. It's just like Aracane said, he's undisciplined and completely reckless. But he is still stopping the thugs in their tracks, even cutting through their so called 'weapons' and killing the men in one blow. Aracane decided that Knulgen was having too much of the fun and joined in, the thugs makeshift 'weapons' not even close to a match compared to his great ax.

Yumi had her own private battle as four thugs tried to surround her and get the jump on her, but thanks to her athletic skills she was quick to dodge and counter their attacks. Her short-sword used to counter the thugs weapons while her fan was used to attack. It was folded, but is still a very good blunt weapon as she attacked them in the heads, dazing and confusing them before she delivered the finishing knock out blow.

While they were fighting the overwhelming number of thugs, Markus finally found them. "What a bloodbath, you teens really are quite the fighters." He called out as they fought the thugs. Unknown to Makrus a thug with a sniper rifle had him in his scopes sight standing many meters down the open hall from Markus. He lined the shot at his head and was about to pull the trigger.

"Hey asshole." Z's voice called, making the thug turn to see Z and the others. Z pulled out his Uzi and shot down the man with his small and rapid weapon. Markus turned to see the commotion and saw the downed thug with the sniper rifle in hand and .

"I can't believe that thug had me in his sight's. I must be losing my touch." Markus called out to Z and his group, thanking his young friend for saving him.

"Don't beat yourself up, it happens to even the best of us sometimes." Z replied as they ran their way.

They looked over to Yumi and her group to see that all the thugs were down, either dead from Aracane and Knulgen, or unconscious from Yumi. The whole gang was finally regrouped.

"Now that we got most of the gang members down, we can focus on finding Robert Hallmon and take him down for good." Markus said to the regrouped warriors.

"Guys come in, there is still an number of thugs from what we can see by the satellites infrared." Jeremie's voice called in.

"Shit! We still got to round them up." Knulgen said as he swing his sword to get the blood off.

"Maybe, but maybe there is something you guys can do to get the guards to leave or distract them." Aelita suggested as her voice came in too.

"I got it, we will set fire to the drugs. We'll burn they're narcotics and either get the guards to leave, or distract them while we find Robert." Z said to them with a snap of his fingers.

"Then how should we do this?" William asked.

"I'll find Robert, you guys burn the crates. He wont be hard to deal with." Z said to them.

"Good luck then my boy." Markus said as Z nodded and ran off to the office area. "Okay, lets do this, I know where the drugs are. Follow me" Markus said as they went to find the drug cases.

()()()()()()

After a few minutes the gang came to an area where all the drug crates were as they hid in the shadows of darker open hall path. The crates easily took up over twenty five percent of the space in the entire warehouse. Stacks upon stacks of crates and cases filled with drugs and other stuff as Markus and his group observed. "This is one of the biggest drug stocks I've ever seen in all my years of being in this organization!" Markus whispered to them.

"How are we gonna burn the crates down? The place is crawling with guards." Ulrich asked.

"I think I have an idea, we all still got a bunch of these flash bangs. We take our harnesses off and pull all the pins and throw them in the middle of the room." Odd said to them with his surprisingly good idea.

"Great idea Odd, that much flash-bangs going off at once will keep those guards down for quite some time." Markus said as he took his flash-bang harness off. The rest soon did the same and all at once they pulled the pins.

"Hey boys! You like fireworks? Here's all the fireworks you can handle!" Markus shouted as they all at once threw the harnesses into the groups of guards. The sound of the grenades going off at once was ear shattering and retina burning as the dozens of guards were blinded and deafen by the large number of flash-bangs going off. While they were stunned, the Lyoko warriors and Markus ran over to the crates and opened one.

"Holy shit! Look at all this filth." Markus said in disgust at all the different types of drugs. From pills, to powder like stuff, and plants and even medical prescriptions, and hallucinogenic liquids. "Okay now, we need some fuel to get this bonfire going." Markus said to them.

"Here you go, found this gas stuff in a corner. Should be enough to burn this place down." William said coming over to them, caring two big gas containers, as well as Aracane and Knulgen.

"Good, give me one and spread the rest over as many of the other crates you can." Markus said as he took a can and began to shake out the green like fuel. The Earth born members wondered why the gas was green, but that's a question for another time. "Alright, burn, baby burn." Markus said as he pulled out a lighter and set the crate on fire. The fire caught quick and spread to the other crates fast. The others just got done too, as the fire grew.

"Now let's get to the roof and ride our way back to the other building roof, it wont take long before the amount of smoke escaping from the building catches the police and fire departments attention, so-" But Markus didn't finish as he noticed Kairaree was missing. "Where is Kairaree?" He asked looking around. The gang just noticed as well and began to look around.

"Oh no, she must have went to help Z, she could be in danger." Sam said with worry.

"We can't do anything for her right now, we might endanger her if we jump in. right now you kids need to get to the roof and ride the line back to the other roof." Markus ordered.

"What about you? Where are you going?" Ulrich asked.

"I'm gonna round up the remaining thugs so the police can arrest whoever is left so they don't end up going off to some other crime family or gangs. I'll see you all again later, good luck warriors." Markus said as he saluted them and ran off with his guns ready.

The gang, without a word began to make they're way to the roof stairs that would lead to their cable line while the guards either ran around or tried to put out the growing fire as it spread to the other crates and other items on the shelves. At this point, the thugs didn't even care about the warriors as they fled for their lives.

()()()()()()()()()

Z found the office area and began his search. He had both of his handguns in hand as he looked for Robert in the room filled with many abandoned desks. Suddenly Z ducked down as a spray of bullets ran across the walls as Z rolled behind a desk.

"So you're the motherfuckers who are shitting on my whole operation." Robert yelled as he stopped firing his LMG weapon.

"You could say that, and you could also do me a favor and let me kill you and get it over with." Z yelled back and ran out from his desk and fired off the handguns until they were empty while Robert ran and fired off his big clipped gun. Z dived back behind another desk and pulled out his other two handguns. He missed Robert because his guns could not compete with the LMG and it's massive clip and needed to be careful on when to take his shots.

"Your dead kid! You and your friends are dead!" Robert yelled as he unloaded another barrage of bullets from the clip to where Z was, his gun was half empty when he stopped. Z then jumped out and fired his handguns until they too were empty while Robert dived behind another desk. With his 'disposable' guns empty, he took out one of his personal handguns.

"This ends now kid! When I'm done, I'll sell your friends into slavery, there's plenty of places who like young youthful kids for a long life of labor." Robert roared as he fired again at Z while he ran until finally his gun was out. He threw it aside and pulled out a elegant handgun and him and Z were at a standstill, pointing their guns at each other.

"Your friends would fetch a good price, I've seen you all on the monitors a little bit ago. They would all make good laborers for secret and illegal mining operations, or growing drugs on a plantation." Robert said as they slowly walked side by side with there guns pointed at each other. "But the girls would fetch even a better price for selling them into sex slavery. Especially that Lizardin girl, she's very cute, she would fetch a good price at secret brothels or whore houses." Robert said with a smile.

Even though Z didn't show it, pure anger was bubbling in him as he took offense to Robert wanting to sell his new comrades into slavery, especially for some reason, talking about Kairaree as he tighten his finger on the trigger.

"Oh sure she would fight it for quite awhile, but even the strongest will break after a few years of getting fucked. But eventually she'll be ready to get screwed when they're done with her." Robert laughed manically.

"Z, where are you?" Kairaree's voice called out, catching both of they're attention. Kairaree walked into the room not far from where Z was standing.

"Oh no, Kairaree." Z said with worry.

"Well kid you got a choice, you... or her?" Robert said as he aimed his gun at her. Time seemed to slow down as Z ran to where she was, Robert pulled the trigger, Z got in the bullet's way and took it to the chest where his heart is and fell to the floor on his side, not moving.

"Z, Z, Z please answer me. Z please don't die!" Kairaree cried as tears began to fall while she got down to shake him and see if he was okay.

"What a waste, he died for nothing. Truly there's nothing more pathetic then that." Robert said with a smug look on his face as he walked close to them with his gun still aimed at her.

"You monster! All you do is ruin peoples lives with that filth you sell on the streets. And for what? Money? Is that all you desire?" Kairaree spat at him while leaning over Z's body.

"Money and power little girl, that's the only thing that matters in this world. There's no room for weakling like you, and I learned that a long time ago, and you are going to bring a good profit when I'm done selling you." Robert replied as he pointed his gun at her to make sure she doesn't try anything funny.

"Hey you bastard," A voice said, Kairaree and Robert looked down to see Z pointing his six shooter at Robert. "Next time you kill someone, make sure their not wearing a top of the line bulletproof vest!" Z yelled as he pulled the trigger and Shot Robert right between the eyes and blowing the back of his skull out as well. Robert's drug empire was finally over.

"Z! thank gods you're all right." Kairaree said with joy as she hugged him when she helped him get back on his feet. Z was stunned by her hug as he didn't know what to do in a situation like this.

"Uuhh, sure, it was nothing, we always wear armor under our clothes." Z replied while feeling a heat on his cheeks.

"You saved my life, you really are our friend." Kairaree replied with a smile.

"Let's get out of here and let the police take care of the rest. We all did a great thing for this city today." Z said to her as left the office area and made their way back to the roof.

()()()()()()()()

On the warehouse roof. "Where are they? We can't wait any longer." Knulgen said as he was ready to ride the line again with his motor line ready.

"We will wait for as long as it takes." Aracane said to him.

"Look, there they are." Yumi said as Z and Kairaree came on the roof through the entrance.

"Let's go guys, head back to base. We've done all we can." Z said to them as he picked up his motor line and ride the metal line back up. The gang soon followed until they all were back on the roof.

DAY 9

The morning sun began to rise, countless police and firefighters and they're vehicles surrounded the building as the cops arrested the remaining thugs while the firefighters put out the flames of the building. Z saw Markus talking to the chief of police and fire department through his binoculars as he explained what had happened. "Good, Markus will clear it up with the cops and give them the evidence to put away the remaining thugs and they will contact the government to put a stop to Robert's other connections. This city can finally start getting back on it's feet." Z said while looking at Markus and the police.

"This was a crazy night, now let's get a big breakfast, we earned it." Odd said to them as his stomach growled a little.

"I agree, I'm starving." Knulgen added as he put his hands on the back of his head.

"Well I for one now see that you guys really are cut out for the job." Z said to them with a little bit of pride in his voice for the first time.

"I just want to say thank you Z. I'm alive because of you. Does you're chest still hurt?"Kairaree asked as she put her hand on his shoulder. Once again a strange sensation running through him.

"N-no, it's fine. The vest took all the damage." Z replied with a light stutter.

"So Z, now that we held our end of the bargain, now it's your turn." Ulrich said to him with a little smile and leaned against the concrete edge.

"Fine, fair is fair. Where is the amulet?" Z asked holding out his hand.

"I have it, I've kept it in my satchel. Just take it and swear to join our cause." Kairaree said as she gave the amulet to him.

"I swear to join your cause, and stop this Xana once and for all." Z said as he held the amulet. Another gem on the amulet lit up, signaling yet another warrior has joined.

"Yes, another warrior on the team." William cheered.

"We're getting stronger every day." Sam said with a smile.

"Can't wait to tell Jeremie and Aelita about this." added said.

"So new guy, how about you start the search with the next warrior, give us a lead." Aracane said to him.

"There seems to be a problem with this amulet." Z said as he looked at the orb in the middle. The gangs cheerful faces became stunned with worry as they walked over to him.

"What's wrong? What's the amulet showing?" Kairaree asked as she looked at the orb.

"There's not one arrow... there's two arrows pointing in one direction." Z said as they all saw the two arrows on the orb of the amulet.

**END CHAPTER.**


	12. TWO ARROWS, ONE PATH

**CHAPTER 12: TWO ARROWS, ONE PATH**

The gang and they're new member were stunned by the amulet having two arrows on the orb, and frankly none of them knew what it meant. "So... what the crap does this mean?" Knulgen asked.

"I... I don't know, this has never happened before." Kairaree replied.

"Whatever it is, we can't do anything about it. Let's head back to base and get ourselves cleaned up and rested. Then after that, I will arrange a lift to take us out of the city. After all, what are the odds of the next warrior or whatever the two arrows mean, is going to be in the city?" Z said as he made his way to the roofs edge.

"Well knowing GW, he'll probably show up when we're alone and maybe shed light on what the amulet means." Yumi said to them.

"Yes, I too am looking forward to meeting this 'other realm' being. After all, some of you guys are _aliens, _so seeing this guy would be quite a sight." Z replied.

"He is something, just don't attack him, he will defeat you without even trying. Just ask Knulgen. Isn't that right Knulgen?" Aracane called in a mocking tone.

"Fuck you!" Was all Knulgen's reply.

"Knock it off, let's head back." Ulrich said as they all headed back to Z's base.

()()()()()()()()

After an hour or so the gang got back to base the same way they came and entered the building to be met by Aelita in the command room. "Congratulations guys, you stopped that Kingpin, is he finally in jail?" Aelita asked as they all entered the command room.

"The Kingpin is dead, it was not an option." Z simply replied.

"Oh... I see." Aelita said.

"So, is Z now on our team?" Jeremie asked.

"Z is a full fledged member of our Lyoko team. But now we got a weird thing going on with the amulet." Odd said to their genius.

"What weird thing?" Aelita asked with concern. Odd showed them the amulet that shined two arrows on the amulet's orb and the two were just as shocked. "This has never happened before, I don't know what to think or do." Aelita said as she looked at the amulet closely.

"For now we should not worry about it. Let's just get ourselves ready and just follow the amulet like we always have, and wait for GW to help us." William added in.

"Wait, ready for what?" Jeremie asked with curiosity.

"Z is going to arrange a ride for us." Odd said, but then turn to Z "Hey Z, how are you going to get us a ride? What is it, and how are we gonna pay on such short notice?" Odd asked.

"You really think we will have to pay? Odd, you really don't think that an organization like mine wouldn't have vast connections? We have all kinds of ways to get supplies and transportation and information. So don't worry about it." Z said to Odd.

"That's amazing! With your organization, we can stop Xana in no time." Odd replied with glee.

"No, your wrong." Z simply said. The gang was surprised by Z's reply and confused as well.

"What exactly do you mean Z? Didn't you say you have connections?" Sam questioned.

"The thing is, we do have massive connections and so on, that's how we stay in touch and coordinate our assignments. But what I'm doing after our ride is 'quitting' the organization in a sense, but I'm not really. It's kind of like taking a leave of absence. After all, a lot of us Zarcanions do have family's, husbands or wives and children. Not all of us are orphans, some of us are born into it like me." Z explained to his new friends.

"Wait a minute? Not all of you are orphans? What do you mean by that?" Aracane asked.

"A great deal of us started out as orphans. At a time the Zarcanions were once tens of thousands only, but thanks to the wars in decades past, swell in 'recruits' have increased our numbers, thanks to the orphan boom." Z went on.

"So your organization took orphans and lead them into this life?" Yumi asked.

"Well don't say it like it was a bad thing. After all, orphans do make great recruits. Besides, is it wrong to give them a chance to get back at the bastard remnants that ruined their young lives in the first place? Is it wrong to train them to lead a life of helping people when the governments have done nothing to bring stability to the war torn areas and put a stop to the crime rings like what we just stopped only awhile ago? So in the end, we train at a young age and at around twenty or so is when we achieve the rank of black coat and become masters, and even have the right to train apprentices." Z said, explaining his organization.

"But your wearing a black coat, and your no older then us." Jeremie pointed out.

"When it comes to apprentices, they wear a one piece jumpsuit-like body armor that can defend against small arms and even has all kinds of loops for weapon holsters and other things. What I'm wearing is simply a upgraded version. A master trains an apprentice, starting at the age of ten with basic training and teaching, then at thirteen or so is when they get in the field. Then they train with their master until mid-twenty's or so. And after passing a number of strenuous tests, they take the pledge and are rewarded with the rank of black coat and become masters." Z said with a bit of pride in his voice.

"So how the fuck did you become a black coat?" Knulgen asked, not really caring about what they were talking about.

"I earned my rank, I never said that to become a black coat was strictly by the rules. Every now and then, someone like me becomes a black coat sooner do to they're skills and talents, and I have Markus to thank for that." Z said, remembering his past training.

"Well whatever the reason, we're glad your on our side." Odd said to him.

"Yes, I'll tell you more later, or at least what I can tell you." Z replied.

"So your one of those, top secret, no tell kind of agency right?" Ulrich asked him.

"Mostly. We work better when we don't involve other agency's into our business." Z replied as he disarmed his extra weapons and put them back in his weapon locker. "Now if you'll excuse me, I will now go arrange our ride, help yourselves to whatever you need." Z said to them as he left the room.

"With pleasure man." Odd said as he went to the kitchen. After an hour or so, the gang had freshen up with showers and food. Z returned to the living room like area of the abandoned building.

"Good news guys, I have a ride at the airport. It's a cargo plane that works for whoever hires them. We leave when we arrive." Z announced to them.

"Awesome! I've always wanted to ride a cargo plane." Odd said out loud.

"It is neat that we get to ride a plane. But what about Markus?" Yumi asked.

"He'll meet me there before sending us off and onto his next assignment." Z answered.

"Then I guess we should head out then." Kairaree said to them.

"Not yet, since I'm going to be with you guys for awhile, I figured we need supplies. So in that case, I will give some of you backpacks." Z said as he walked back over to his weapon locker and opened the doors. He leaned down and opened a drawer and pulled out several sophisticated travel backpacks filled with supplies. "These are some military grade survival backpacks. Each is filled with over two dozen MRE's that have vital nutrition, as well as water purification pill packets, medical supplies, flashlights and battery's, multi-tool knife, rope, blanket, flint knife, and even a few glow wands." Z went on as he threw a backpack to Ulrich, Kairaree, Aracane, Odd, William, Yumi, and putting one on himself.

"Cool! Glow wands!" Odd said with joy as he fished them out from the backpacks integrate and well designed storage.

"Not for playing or dancing Odd!" Z sneered as Odd put them back in his pack. "So keep these packs for as long as we can. So now lets head to the airstrip." Z said as he put his backpack on.

"So how are we gonna get there anyway." Knulgen asked.

"I'll drive us there in a van. Don't worry, the windows are tinted" Z said to them.

"You can drive a car? I don't even have a permanent to drive." Ulrich said a little disappointed.

"I can drive anything from cars, to jet's, and boat's, and tank's. That's one of my basic training. Now I need to gear up before we leave." Z said as he began to gear up at his locker. He first reloaded his personal custom made handguns and holstered his revolver in a side holster. He then took out over forty clips with twenty-five rounds each and put them in the various pockets and hidden compartments of his coat and suit. He loaded his saw-off and put it back in it's holster under his right arm and his Uzi in his left holster. He took out ten clips for the Uzi and a box of shells for his shotgun and took out a new assault rifle with folding stock and compacting barrel and several magazines, and finally took back the curved forward machetes with sheath that he attached to his back and some other combat knifes at his side.

"You sure are packing some heat." William said as Z finished loading up.

"If we're gonna be outside most of the time, then it's best I carry as much as possible." Z replied as they all headed down to the underground garage. They entered the area and found a black van with tinted windows.

"All aboard the rape van, first stop, sodomy." Knulgen joked as he got in the back.

"You got a sick mind Knulgen." Yumi sneered.

"Hey you know what these kind of vans usually mean." Knulgen replied.

"Well in this case it isn't. Now get your ass in the back before I make you walk." Z ordered as he got in the drivers seat.

"Whatever." Was once again Knulgen's only reply. After he got in the back, Ulrich jumped in the front and the rest sat in the back, leaving only Jeremie and Aelita to get in.

"Jeremie, what's sodomy?" Aelita asked, leaving Jeremie stunned.

"Uuhhh... I'll tell you later, okay Aelita." Jeremie replied as he frantically got in. After everyone was on, Z pushed a button on the overhead and the garage door where the ramp was opened, allowing Z to drive out and on they're way to the airport.

()()()()()()()()

The drive to the airport went without a problem, they even pulled over to pick up a newspaper at a stand to read the headlines of last night and read it one by one of their unsung deed to the city. Some time later the gang arrived at the airport, Z used a clearance pass at a gate and drove to a more rural part of the strip and finally pulled over. The gang got out and to they're amazement, a large four engine cargo plane with a big body with a ramp in the back to drop cargo. Two men in dusty looking dark green pilot like suits stood at the top of the ramp with pilot helmets with the pull down visors. One was a Caucasian human, and the other a Cataranion with a goatee and black stripes.

"So do you know these guys? Are they friends of yours?" Ulrich asked Z.

"No I don't, but they have gave rides to other Zarcanions before, and they come highly regarded for they're service... for a price of course." Z said as he started walking to the plane. As Z headed to the plane, most of them couldn't help but be excited of their new form of travel. They followed Z to the ramp and as they got there, Markus walked down from the cargo storage area to them.

"Markus, I was wondering when we were gonna see you again." Z said with a smile.

"Well I had to see you all off before I leave for my next assignment." Markus replied.

"So you really are okay with him leaving the Zarcanions for awhile?" Yumi asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'll clear it up with the higher ups. I won't tell them the details of your task at hand though." Markus said to them.

"All right guys, load up and I'll be in soon. Markus and I have some last minute things to clear up." Z said to his friends. They all complied and headed up the ramp.

"Welcome aboard, I'm your captain Paul, and this Kastamire, my co-pilot." the human pilot said, introducing themselves to them as the gang boarded.

"So this is it then?" Z asked.

"For now my boy. We will see each other again in time." Markus replied with a smile.

"When will I see you again?" Z wondered.

"I'll keep in touch. And every now and then, I will find you for missions that require your special touch. So take care and more importantly, be a friend to them Z, and you will know what true strength is when you have others like them on your side." Markus said as he patted him on the shoulder.

"I... I will try, good-bye for now old friend." Z said as he held out his hand for a handshake, Markus took his hand but then pulled Z into a hug and gave him a few pats on the back.

"Good-bye to you for now too." Markus replied as he finally let Z go. Z walked up the ramp and before he went farther in, he turned around and gave him a stroke of his hand as a simple good-bye as the ramp closed, leaving Markus to watch the plane start up then take off before driving back to the base.

()()()()()()()

Z entered the passenger seating area where the rest of his new friends were being assisted by a Molknuc woman dressed the same way the pilots were and having a casual talk with some of them.

"So what's your role on this plane anyway?" Sam asked her as she was tightening her seat-belt that connects in the middle.

"I am the planes gunner. There is a turret seat below that allows me to control the mini-guns and grenade launchers to protect the plane." She said to Sam

"So that means your pretty good with a control _stick_. What are you doing later lady?" Knulgen asked with a smirk.

She walked over to where Knulgen was sitting and put her hand on his seat-belt seductively, then pulled the strap hard, tightening his belt very hard. "Keep it up and I'll use you as target practice, and you'll see how good I am with a stick. And my name is Selsalra, kid!" She said as she went to her station.

"Serves you right Knulgen, you need to keep to yourself." Aracane said to him.

"Screw yourself, keep pissing me off and I'll throw you out the plane when were flying." Knulgen shot back at him.

"Keep pissing me off, and I'll throw you out piece by piece as we're flying." Aracane threatened back.

While the two were arguing, Z couldn't help but wonder what he's gotten himself into as he took his seat and buckled in.

"Okay there kids, were ready for take off, please stay in your seats until we are in the air and enjoy your ride." The captains voice came in over the intercom.

()()()()()()()()()

The planes engines roared to life and began to make it's way down the private track and the large cargo plane began to lift and take off into the sky. Markus leaned against the vans driver door and watched as the plane disappear into the sky. Markus sighed with content as the closes person he's had to a son, fly off to a whole new adventure. "So now the cogs are in motion. I knew this day was coming, but still it's hard to see him go. But then again, this was going to happen one way or another. Isn't that right... whatever your name is now?" Markus called out, looking over to the left side of his van where the back doors are.

The sound of a staff tapping the ground as a familiar ethereal being walked around into view. It was Guardian Warrior walking out from behind the other side of the van "It's good to see you again Markus, and my name now is Guardian Warrior, although the one named Odd calls me GW for short." GW answered.

"GW? It's got a nice ring to it." Markus said.

"How long have you known I was here?" GW asked him very curiously.

"Since you appeared into our plain of existence when they're plane took off." Markus said as he walked over to him.

"Your senses and training have served you well, as will what you taught the young one called Z." GW said as he looked in the direction of the planes path.

"I'm still not happy about it, in fact I hate it. Isn't there anybody else who could have been chosen, couldn't there been anybody that is more qualified for this quest?" Markus questioned.

"I'm sorry Markus, but Z is just as much a part of this as the ones with him, and the ones left to find. I know Z mean a lot to you, but he is the chosen one too, and they are the only ones who will bring balance and peace to the universe. And the best you can do is be there when he needs you the most. Remember, I had a feeling Z might have been the one when I first came to you and a select few others of your organization a decade or so ago. GW explained to Markus.

"Just tell me this. Will he come back alive? Will him and his friends come back alive and well when all of this is over and done with?" Markus asked as a hint of worry lingered in his voice.

"No, I can't guarantee his, or his new friends safe return. And even if they do come back, they won't be the same. Whatever they become will be up to them when this is all over and how much they change over the course of their adventures." GW replied without much emotion in his voice.

"I understand, I guess I can't hold onto him forever. I just hope he doesn't lose himself." Markus said a little sadness.

"Don't worry Markus, Z is strong and so are they. And in time he will return, and with a peaceful new universe behind them." GW said with a cheer in his voice. "Now I must leave, I must introduce myself to Z soon and guide the warriors to they're next path, take care Markus and good day." GW said as he walked off and in a flash of light, he was gone.

Markus looked up into the sky where the plane took off. "Good luck Z, I know you all can win." He simply said to himself as the noon sun shined in the distance.

()()()()()()()()

Far off in a small land called the Misty Deep, a place where it is misty almost all year with high mountains and small towns scattered across the land. On a road heading into a small town, two humans walked on a dusty path. One a girl, and one a boy. They were wearing dark brown hoods with a long s that wrapped around their bodies hiding what they were wearing. They're faces were shadowed very well, but the girl had a few strands of light blue hair hanging out from her hood and carrying a tall staff with a sack like sheath covering whatever was on the top of the staff. The boy's face was also covered, but his arms were more exposed then her's, showing his armored arms which were a very dark blue and the armor tops of his forearms were a little larger, housing the weapons in them. They walked the dusty path with the cool crisp wind, lightly blowing behind them as they walked side by side as they made their way towards the small town up ahead.

"Sis, are you really sure the clues lead in this area?" The boy asked.

"I'm sure, the clue plainly said that the artifact holds deep in the land of mist and mountain. This place is called Misty Deep, so it make's sense that what we're looking for should be here brother." The girl replied.

"I hope so, we've been away from our home for so long. I miss it so much. I wonder what the elders will think when we return." The boy said to his sister.

"The elders will understand once we find what we're looking for. Besides, it's not like they can stop us. We have the only remaining scroll of what we're looking for." The girl said as she gestured to the scroll in her pocket, under her hooded cape.

"After all this time, do you really think we will find what we need to help our people?" The boy asked.

"We will find it, and we will help our people. But for now we need to keep to ourselves and not draw attention. The town is not much further, so we'll find a lodge and get something to eat." The girl said with a smile to her brother.

"Good! I'm starving. All we've had for days is dried bread. And I for one am tired of eating it!" The boy said as the town they were looking for began to come into view of the thick mist.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Hours passed as the cargo plane carried the gang to whatever location they needed to go. The pilots only knowing that they need to wait for the gang to tell them where they need to be dropped off. The gang kept themselves occupied by talking and doing other activities to pass the time. Odd slept, Ulrich looked out his window, Aracane sharpened his ax, Yumi kept opening and closing her fan blade and everybody else just did what they did. However, Aelita diligently kept watch of the amulet, still wondering what the two arrows mean. Suddenly the amulet shined brighter then it usually does, signaling they were close to they're destination.

"Guy's, I think we're near on where we need to be." Aelita alerted them. Some of them walked over to have a look at the amulet.

"Are you sure Aelita? We still don't know what the amulet means." Yumi said, looking at it.

"It's the only thing we can count on. So for now let's just go with it." Ulrich said.

"In that case, you guys head to the cargo storage area while I tell the pilots." Z said as he headed to the cockpit. The gang made they're way to the cargo storage area and waited for Z. after a few minutes, Z and the co-pilot Kastamire walked into the room with them, ready for the next phase.

"So Z, how much longer till we land?" William asked.

"We're not landing William." Was all Z said. The whole gang was stunned by what he said and couldn't help wonder what he meant.

"What the fuck do you mean we're not landing?" Knulgen asked.

"There are no areas for a cargo plane this big to land." Z said as he walked over to a cabinet.

"So if we can't land, then how are we gonna get on the ground?" Jeremie asked, getting a little frustrated.

"Simple kids, you land yourselves." The co-pilot said as he helped Z open the cabinet revealing a whole closet full of parachutes. The gang was stunned to say the least, for none of them have ever jumped out of a plane before.

"Are, are you serious? Are you really serious about this?" Jeremie said with shock.

"Yes I am, we need to jump here or land at the nearest airstrip that's over a thousand miles from here, and we've already traveled a few thousand miles already." Z said as he put on his chute. "There's nothing to be worried about, I've done this countless times before." Z said as he was ready to go.

"There is no way I'm jumping out of a damn plane." Knulgen said as he leaned against the wall.

"What's the matter Knulgen? Afraid to jump?" Aracane mocked.

"You bastard! I'm not afraid of anything. Give me a damn chute!" Knulgen said as he gruffly took one and put it on. The others noticing that they have no other choice too and reluctantly put they're chutes on and prepare for the jump to the ground, knowing that the longer they wait, the farther the amulets destination is while their flying.

"Okay guys, I know it seems scary, but you have nothing to worry about. Just follow my lead, I'll jump out first and Kastamire will signal you all one by one to jump out. After you jump out, wait until I pull my cord, then you guys pull your cords in the order you jumped out. You will have two handles that control your steering, shouldn't be hard for you to figure out, just try not to hit any trees. And make sure your weapons and those of you carrying our backpacks are secure. Now let's do this." Z said as he finished instructing his friends on what they need to do as they jump out.

Z walked over to the cargo hatch while the co-pilot Kastamire went over to the control panel. He held onto a rail while the co-pilot pulled the lever. The buzzers went off while the hatch began to open with a red light above the hatch door. The wind was whipping hard into the hatch as some of the nets holding the crates shook and rattle. A few seconds passed until the red light turned green, then Z ran and jumped out of the hatch. The light turned red again, resting the jump wait. The light turned green again while the co-pilot waved for another one to jump.

"Meet you guys down there!" Aracane said as he ran and jumped. After a few seconds, the co-pilot signaled again.

William took a deep breath and took the plunge. After that, Knulgen shrugged his shoulders and ran out when it was time for another jump. Then Kairaree, then Yumi.

"My turn guys, Banzai!" Odd shouted as he jumped out.

Sam then followed suit too and jumped out. Finally Ulrich jumped. Then finally it came down to Jeremie and Aelita. And Jeremie wasn't up to it, his knees were shaking a little, the last time he was up high in the air was when he won the competition to ride a jet which he wasn't fond of in the first place. Especially when Xana possessed it and tried to blow up the factory, forever preventing them from entering Lyoko again and trying to kill him too. Aelita then took his hand. "Don't worry, we'll jump together if you want." She said with a smile as she tightened her grip.

"O-okay Aelita, let's do it." Jeremie said as they both began to run. They took the leap out together while still holding hands with the co-pilot waving good-bye as the hatch closed and the plane flew off.

The wind whipped below them as they fell, the gang cheered and hollered with joy as they fell. After a minute or two of flips and other fun things. One by one the gang pulled they're cords and their chutes burst open and their slow ascent to the ground began. Jeremie and Aelita took one last look at each other and pushed away from each other and pulled the cords and having their chutes open too.

Minutes passed as the gang descended to the misty ground, finally the ground came into view and they all landed one by one with a soft thud, the terrain was damp and moist with trees and little hills scattered about.

"See guys, I knew you could do it, now gather your parachutes, we can sell it in a nearby town." Z said as rolled up his chute.

"Damn that was fun." William cheered.

"I can't believe I did that, I've never done anything like that before." Yumi said to them very excited.

"After all the times we've jumped down into Lyoko, you should be use to it." Odd said to her.

"Well the only difference Odd, is when we drop into Lyoko, if anything goes wrong, we just get sent back to the real world." Ulrich said as he gathered his chute.

"Hey guys, where's Knulgen?" Aracane asked the group.

"I'm here you idiots." Knulgen called out as he threw a pinecone like thing at William's head. The gang looked up to see Knulgen hanging from a tree, the chute tangled up in the leaves and knulgen swinging lightly. "Well what the fuck are you waiting for? Get me down, godsdammit!" Knulgen shouted as he shake himself violently.

The gang looked at each other, and then they got a wicked idea. They all picked up the cones on the ground and began to throw the cones at him.

"Ow, fuck, dammit, cut the shit assholes, fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you in the ass Yumi, I'll kill you, I'll kill you all in your sleep!" Knulgen shouted at them, and continued to shout swears at them until they got done having their fun as they ran out of pinecones.

"Okay Knulgen, we had our fun. Now how do we get you down?" Odd said after he stopped laughing.

"Screw you guys, I'll get myself down." Knulgen shouted as he pulled his sword out and in one swing, cut the straps and fell to the ground. Before he touched down, he rolled to avoid injury as he landed with a thud. He slowly stood up and the gang was ready for him to attack. But Knulgen just gave them a look and put his sword away. "Well it looks like we won't be selling my chute now." Knulgen said.

"Nothing that can be done about it now, let's follow the amulet for as long as possible. Then we will make camp. It's high noon, so we got a few hours." Z said to the group.

"Where are we anyway?" Aracane asked.

"From what my GPS says, where in a place called Misty Deep. This area is covered in mist, almost the entire year. So we need to stay close and not loose each other here. There's a lot of deep crevasses." Z informed his friends as he was looking at his GPS.

"Well the arrows are pointing this way, so let's move." Aelita said as she pointed in the arrows direction, and the gang began there search.

A few hours passed as the growing gang followed the amulets direction. Finally the night was coming and the gang decided that it was time to call it a night. As before, the gang took certain jobs on what to do, some gathered wood, while the others made camp. They had a fire going and each of them took an MRE to eat. When everybody was done, the Earth born gang once again told stories about life on their planet and the lands, customs, and their own life in general. Z sat on a log that they rolled in, with both of his handguns laid down on his backpack to clean them.

The gang couldn't help watch as Z disassembled his guns with ease and began to clean each part with his cleaning kit. "Wow Z, you really know your way around those guns." Ulrich said as he stoked the fire.

"You can say that again, I know how to use every type of firearm and other military grade weapons." Z replied as he continued to clean his handguns.

"Bet you can't put both back together blindfolded." Knulgen said with a chuckle.

"Really? You're gonna ask me that if I can't put these back together without seeing? Watch me!" Z said as he took a clean rag and covered his eyes. He took a deep breath and began his work. He started by finishing his cleaning of each part until they were done. After that he put each part to the two guns in separate pile and then began to put them back together with ease, knowing each piece inside and out. After he was done, the final part was to load each gun and pulled the slides, arming the guns.

"Never seen that up close before. Your guns are awesome." Odd said with amazement.

"Well it should, these guns mean a lot to me." Z said as he put a scope on each of his guns for extra precaution.

"But you've used several different guns in less then two days, what makes these so special?" William asked.

"They belonged to my parents." Z simply said. The gang went silent of what he just said. "This is the SW-040 Forge. Twenty five rounds, three fire settings, this belonged to my father." Z said, showing the long black magnum like handgun with a dark gray handle. "And this is the 2041-Wing, twenty five rounds too, built in laser pointer and flashlight with over two-hundred hours of light, with adjustable range, this belonged to my mother." Z finished with the lighter colored gun with the built in flashlight under the magnum like guns barrel end and laser pointer on top.

"I can't believe you lost your parents as well. Some of us have that in common too." Kairaree said as she sat down next to him, remembering her's and some of her new friends loss as well.

"I know it's hard to loose the ones you love, but remember that the one thing that never leaves is they're love for you young man." A familiar voice called out. Z jumped to attention ready to fight, not knowing where the voice came from.

A familiar bright flash of light shined and their other realm friend appeared to them. Z took a good long look at him, his gray human like face, his shimmering armor and staff, elegant cape and helmet like headpiece.

"So your this Guardian Warrior? The one who set these Earth born guys out looking for us?" Z asked as he fully took in the new being.

"Yes I am, and it's nice to meet you Z, the group could use someone like you. You're skills and training will come in very handy in your future battles ahead." GW said to Z.

"I suppose I am in it for the long haul since your the one who gave them the amulet. Maybe you can figure out what's wrong with it." Z replied as Aelita took it out and presented it to him.

"The amulet is showing two arrows and we don't know what it could mean." Aelita said as GW took the amulet and looked at it very close.

A minute passed until GW finally spoke up. "Interesting, I had my suspicions, but I believe I know what the two arrows mean." GW pondered to them.

"Well? What does the two arrows mean?" Aelita asked.

"What it means is the amulet searches for the warriors soul, the soul of the chosen one. And sometimes people and their souls can have a very special connection, like lovers, or more likely siblings." GW explained to them.

"So what your saying is, the amulet is pointing to two people, and the two people we need to find could be lovers or siblings? Well that about sums it up." Odd said with his hands raised.

"Think of it this way guys, we can find two birds with one amulet, all we got to do is look for two people who either look like a couple or siblings. So now we got a way to narrow our search." Yumi added in.

"Yes, now that you young warriors know what you are looking for, your search will be much better. Now I hate to cut our meeting short, but I must leave you for now. Z, it is a pleasure to meet you, take care." GW said with a smile.

"Sure I suppose, till we meet again." Z said as he held out his hand. GW set his staff in his other hand and shake Z's hand, somewhat not use to mortal customs before turning to leave. After he walked a little bit into the woods before he disappeared. He held his chin with his fingers in a pondering fashion.

"Hmm, two arrows, I wonder? Could it be?" GW said to himself before he faded away in a flash of light.

"So now you've met Guardian Warrior, what do you think of him?" Sam asked.

"He seems... interesting. Still hard to believe he comes from another dimension or realm of whatever he said he's from." Z replied as he sat down again.

"So now that we know what kind of people we're looking for, we should get to sleep. Who's taking first shift?" Aracane said as he threw a huge log into the fire.

"I'll take the first, I've been trained to stay up for long periods of time, and meditate to get a full nights sleep in only a few hours." Z said as he pulled one of his handguns out to have it ready in case someone passes by.

"I'll assist you too Z, it's better when you have more to help." Kairaree said as she sat down across from him.

"I guess I'll take a shift with you guys too, those MRE's have somehow made me wide awake." Odd said as he lied down on his side with his tail flicking.

"I'm pretty wide awake, so I'll watch out with you guys too." Sam chimed in as she pulled a large log from the pile and sat down.

"Sleep well guys, tomorrow we will find our next warriors and continue our search for Xana once we find all the warriors." Aelita said as she lied down on her bed she made with a blanket from one of the backpacks.

"And I'll be the first to kill the bastard, once we find him." Knulgen said with a smirk as he laid down on his swords sheath with the sword still in it as a makeshift pillow.

"Dream on, we will take him down together as untied warriors should." Aracane said as he laid against a tree that was near them.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied.

The night fully settled in as the mist surrounded them. The only source of light from the campfire and the dim lights from the three moons of the planet, mostly blocked by the heavy mist. The next warriors were within they're reach as tomorrow brings new friends, and new a quest to their journey.

**END CHAPTER.**


	13. THE TWINS OF ALTRAVAION

**CHAPTER 13: THE TWINS OF ALTRAVAION**

DAY 10

The morning sun was mostly blocked by the heavy mist of the Misty Deep, but still left enough light to see the ground and paths around them. The gang woke up from their sleep and ate some of the energy bars from they're packs and began their search for the two warriors. They followed the path for some time as they chatted with each other and talked a little more about their life on Earth until Z stopped the group.

"Guys, hold on a minute." Z said as he held his hand up.

"What is it? What do you see?" Sam asked looking at him.

"Remember how we're looking for two warriors, right?" Z asked as he crouched down.

"Yeah so, what's the big deal?" Knulgen asked not really caring.

"I found some tracks on the ground." Z replied as he looked closer to the tracks.

"What's so special about a bunch of tracks Z?" William asked.

"What's special is there are two sets of tracks here." Z pointed out to them. The gang had a closer look and saw the two tracks in the dirt road.

"Ah, a coincidence? I think not." Odd teased to the group.

"Let's see, this one is a male. And from the looks of the tracks, he's wearing heavy boots, maybe armor." Z said as he studied the first tracks. "And this one is a female. She's wearing boots with elevated heels for better maneuvering. These tracks are fresh, maybe less then a day old. And they're travailing side by side." Z finished examining.

"That's amazing, how did you learn how to examine tracks so well?" Jeremie asked.

"Some of my missions involved tracking people down. Markus and another Zarcanion who specializes in hunting taught me how to follow tracks." Z answered them.

"Interesting, my master taught me how to track too. But it mostly involved animals." Aracane said.

"Well at least we have an idea on where they are, so let's hurry before we loose them even more." Aelita pointed out. The gang quickened their pace while following the tracks. After awhile the gang finally came up to a small mining town.

"What's this shitty dump?" Knulgen said as they stood at the towns edge.

"This 'shitty dump' you call, is a town you ass. And an old mining town too. We can get rid of our chutes and track these warriors down." Z said to Knulgen.

"Whatever." Knulgen simply replied.

The gang walked into the town of Fall's Rock Town. An old mining community, one of the many scattered across the Misty Deep. "This place is big. How are we gonna find these next warriors?" Yumi asked as she looked around the town.

"Easy, we head to a nearby general store and sell our chutes and see if anybody has seen some outsiders recently... other then us of course." Z said as he saw a general store.

The town had a homely but rustic look to it, and was mostly filled with miners and traders that delivered their goods across the regain. "Here we are, well start with this store first." Z said as they stopped in front of a general store called Payatho's General Store

"I guess it's as good as any, to begin our search." Ulrich said as they all headed inside the store.

"Hello there, I'm Payatho, welcome to my store." The Cataranion owner said to the group with a smile as he leaned over the counter. He was middle aged and had dark tanned skin with a few little white spots on his cheeks and forehead with short gray hair and a few piercings in his ears.

"Hello, we're here to sell our parachutes, will you buy these from us?" Kairaree asked as she took off her chute pack.

"Certainly, I could resell it to an airbase when the caravans leave town for another delivery." Payatho said as he took the chutes from each of them and examined the chutes one by one.

"Sir, may I ask you something?" Z said as he approached the counter.

"What is it you need to ask?" The shopkeeper asked curiously.

"Were looking for somebody important. Have you by any chance seen some outsiders recently? There's two of them. A boy and a girl, around our age or so." Z asked the clerk.

"Funny you should say that, there were two humans in here a few hours ago. From what I saw, they looked like twins. They bought some supplies, like two flashlights and a long rope. They seemed like they were going to search a cave or something... why are you looking for them?" Payatho said, becoming suspicious at the last part of his sentence.

"We mean them no harm, if that's what your wondering. We simply are looking for them to assist in they're search for the cave. You see, we're old friends of there's from a long time ago when we were young, and for some time, we've been trying to reconnect. Now if you don't mind, do you know where they went?" Z said as he cleverly tricked the man.

"Well since you put it that way, and you kids don't seem to be any trouble, they left town already. They left in the opposite side of town as a matter of fact. So they have a good head start. You would really have to move if you want to catch up with them. And as for the chutes, I'll give you three-hundred and fifty for all them, it's the best I can do." Payatho said as he finished explaining where the twins went and pulled out the money from his register and put it on the table.

"That amount is fine for us, thanks again." Z replied as they left the building. "All right guys, you heard the man. We need to get moving now." Z said as he looked to the other entrance on the far side of the mining town.

"Aww, can't we stop and eat first? I'm still hungry." Odd whined as his stomach growled.

"C'mon Odd, have another energy bar. We need to catch these two. We might not have another easy chance to find them." Sam said as she gave him another energy bar.

"Let's just hope we can catch them, they've had a good few hours head start on us. So time is of the essence." Aracane added in as they headed out of town while Odd ate several bars. The gang made they're pace quick as the town was enveloped by the mist as they traveled the misty road and mountains. After an hour the gang slowed down a little so they don't over look the trail, and they came to a stop to look at the tracks, but only found that they stopped.

"What the fuck is going on? The tracks have split off into the woods." Knulgen said as they looked at the tracks, which separated into the woods on the sides of the road.

"The amulet still shows that they are separated, but they are very close." Aelita said as she looked at the amulet.

"So what should we do? Should we split up into groups, or-" But Ulrich never finished as three objects flung at them, missing Ulrich and Z by inches as they stuck in the ground. They looked like boomerangs, but not by any means your ordinary type. One of them was bigger, over three ft. long and more rounded almost bow shaped with two long holes for holding like handles near both ends of the larger boomerang and was light blue in color. The other two were much more smaller, meant for quick throws, and they were perfectly straight, angled and pointed, and on each side of the small boomerangs had a handle like groove, meaning that they were meant to be duel wielding boomerangs. And were very dark blue in color.

"What the hell are these?!" Ulrich shouted as he draw his swords. And as he finished, two people dropped down from the high tree branches, they were both wearing dull brown cloaks with hoods. They both reached for the buckle near the chests and pulled the hood cloaks off at the same time, revealing themselves to the gang.

One of them was a girl, her skin was a little pale, but not the 'porcelain' type, but not sickly looking either. Her hair was a light blue and incredibly long that went down almost to her ankles and tied up in a pony tail with many hair clips and braids. Her clothes were elegant and almost like some form of priestess attire. Her boots with an elevated heel that went up all the way past her knees and all the way to the thighs with a darkish blue color and with laces too, leaving only a small amount of skin showing on her legs. Her pant like clothes were very short, with a long cloth on the front and back of her waist that went almost to her feet with elegant marks and inlets and a red stone in her buckle. Her top seemed like it was from ages past, for it looked like a cross between priestess clothes and armor and it covered most of her upper body, leaving only a small opening near her navel, and long dark shoulder pads in an oval shape, and some laces on the sides of her body for adjusting. And finally she had long armored gloves with her fingers exposed, and went up all the way past her elbows, near her upper arms and dark blue in color as well.

"I was right brother, we are being followed." The girl said as she gripped her staff harder, she then held it with both hands and flicked the cover off the end, revealing a long curved blade with a saw like grove on the back and a guard where the staff and blade met. She pointing it at them, ready for a fight.

"Then in that case, let's be done with them before they find what we're looking for sister." The boy replied.

He looked just like her, but of course still being a boy with messy dark blue hair that wasn't long but not short either. He wore full metal like body armor, it was very dark blue with black inlets in the joint areas. It wasn't plain in look, but it wasn't outlandish either, with some various marking here and there. The armor was well designed, with plating that fitted well with every contour of his body as the plates could even bend in the ab, chest, and back areas, giving him perfect flexibility without restraining him in anyway. The top parts of his forearms were a little larger, as if housing some form of weapons. And finally he wore a dark blue, sleeveless trench coat, with a very large collar and a split that started in the middle of his coat and went down to the very end.

They both had sapphire blue eyes, the girls was a slightly lighter color.

"I don't know what you people want, but it's obvious you mean us harm, and I will not allow that." The boy said to them as he flicked his arms, and two dark long blades sprang out, starting from the top of his wrists and with straight points like the tip of a sword at the end of the blades.

"Wait! Hold on. We mean you no harm, please let us explain." Aelita tried to reason, but the boy made a quick growl and charged at them. Odd quickly jumped in before he could get any closer.

"Well, well, looks like I'm not the only one with some form of arm weapons." Odd smiled as his claws clashed and locked with the boys blades.

"Then let's see who's the better skilled!" The boy shot back as he began his now personal battle with Odd.

"Odd, hang on." Ulrich shouted, but then he ducked down, as the blade of the girls staff swung, missing his face by only a little. The girl then took another swing at him, missing again. She then ran and attacked Yumi as she blocked and deflected with her fan-blades. The girl then jumped away from her.

"Fine, if these two don't want to talk, then a fight is what they will get!" Knulgen grinned as he charged at her, swinging his sword while she blocked and countered with her blade-staff.

"Dammit Knulgen you idiot! Her weapon isn't just any ordinary one. The blade-staff is a formidable weapon, designed to attack opponents at a distance while keeping the user out of harms way." Aracane shouted to him.

"Shut up, if you want to handle it, then get your big dark blue dumb-ass in and help." Knulgen shouted back before blocking another swing.

"We're trying to get them on our side, remember?" Aracane replied with anger.

"What?" The girl said to herself as she overheard their conversation, giving Knulgen an opening as she accidentally let her guard down for a moment.

Meanwhile with Odd and the boy. Their weapons clashed and sparked, claws and blades crossed as their battle intensified. "I really enjoy this, but this is a huge misunderstanding." Odd said through gritted teeth as he held the blades between his claws.

"The only misunderstanding is that you guys shouldn't have tried to follow us." The boy replied. He then quickly pulled his blades away and tripped Odd right out from under his feet. Odd hit the ground hard, the boy kneel on one leg and held his blade above Odd's head as he readied to plunge his blade, but then...

BANG!

A bullet ricocheted against the boys blade, making his arm fly away a little from Odd, stunning everybody and stopping the fight.

"That's enough," Z shouted as smoke hissed out of the barrel of his fathers gun. "Step away from him and sheath your blades." Z ordered as he waved his gun in slow stokes. "And as for you, drop your blade-staff and put your hands up." He then said to the girl while pulling out his other gun. They had no choice but to comply. The boy stood up and with a flick, sheathed his weapons. The girl at the same time dropped her blade-staff and put her hands up. Odd got up and rejoined the group. "I hate to waste a bullet over this, but I had no choice. Now for starters, we were not trying to hurt you two, we need your help." Z said as he holstered his guns.

"Z! don't shoot them, we need them, remember?" Said Kairaree in a loud whisper to him.

"I wasn't going to really shoot them, I just needed to stop this pointless fight." Z replied as he holstered his guns.

"What do you mean you need our help?" The girl asked.

"It's a long story, so let's start by telling what our names are. I'm Aelita" She said as she walked over to her.

"My name is Aracane."

"Knulgen."

"I'm Odd, buddy."

"No kidding," The boy said under his breath.

"Yumi."

"William."

"Sam Knight."

"My names Ulrich."

"Jeremie."

"I go bye Z."

"And I'm Kairaree, it's nice to meet you two. Although I wouldn't want to meet like this again." She giggled a little.

"Well... since you guys haven't killed us. My name is Bel'la Almavon. And this is my brother." She said as she gesturing to her brother.

"My name is Eli'ton Almavon." He said as he crossed his arms.

"Now that we've told you our names, what pray tell is the reason on why you were following us? And what do you mean by you need our help?" Bel'la asked, wanting to finally get to the bottom of this.

"You guys are gonna need to take a seat, it's a long story." Ulrich said as he sheathed his swords.

"There's a sitting area not far from here, it has three long tables with long seats bolted to the concrete ground and a top for when it rains. We'll go there to rest and you can tell us the whole story." Bel'la informed them.

"Sounds like a nice spot, get your blade-staff and boomerangs, and we will head there." Z said as he began to walk. Bel'la picked up her big boomerang and hooked it on her back while picking up her blade-staff. Eli'ton picked up both of his duel boomerangs and sheathed them into a holster built into the back of his armor. So with that, they began to make their way to the resting area, it was an awkward silence amongst them. Many thoughts ran through they're heads. Did the twins think they were going to attack them? Were the twins going to try make a run from them? All they could do was hope for the best.

After a half hour later, they found the resting area. It was a little run down, but still usable. They each took a seat with the twins sitting together and across from them while Knulgen got on one the other tables and laid back to sleep.

"Now we're gonna tell you two everything, and I assure you that what we say is true." Said Aelita as she volunteered to start first. Bel'la and Eli'ton just sat there patiently waiting for their story.

"Trust me you two, I didn't believe them at first either, but I will tell you this, the fate of our world is in danger." Z warned as he leaned against one of the supports of the roof. The twins had a shocked look on they're face. "Now Aelita, please begin." He then simply gestured.

So with that the gang told the twins everything, the Earth born members and they're battle with Xana, their teleportation to Earthera, being chosen by fate from beings from another realm, their search for the Earthera born members and what they've done as they took turns explaining the story, (except for Odd who was eating a few bars, while Knulgen slept on one of the tables) until finally getting to the twins while showing them the amulet as they looked it over.

"So this Xana is going to take over our world and yours, unless we all unite and stop him?" Bel'la asked as she looked over the amulet with the arrows flashing at them.

"Yes, all you need to do is swear to join our cause and to find the next warrior." Aracane said to the twins.

"Well you see, we kinda have our own quest, and we don't have time to help." Eli'ton said as he looked at the amulet.

"I thought the same thing too, but I managed, and I'm with a major organization." Z informed them.

"What organization are you talking about?" Be'la asked curiously.

"I am with the Zarcanions or black coats, as we are sometimes called." Z answered them.

"I've heard about the Zarcanions, you agents go around all over the world fighting all kinds of crime." Bel'la said with a little bit of amazement in her voice.

"Yeah well enough about Z, what is it you guys are doing?" Yumi asked them.

"It's like this, you see we're looking for a ruin of our people that's in this area, and we-" Bel'la explained until her brother put a hand on her shoulder.

"Bel! We can't just tell people what where doing. We don't even know anything about them. How can we even trust if they're whole story is true? That a few of them are from another planet, and that them and even us two, are apart of some destiny to destroy this evil Xana?" Eli'ton questioned his sister.

"There's no way this is made up. It's too elaborate and well put together to be fake. Besides, if what they say is true, then not only is everyone in danger, but our people as well. It wouldn't do us any good to find what we're looking for if our people get destroyed or enslaved." Bel'la shot back to her brother.

"Can you excuse us for a minute?" Eli'ton said to the gang as he got up from the table and waved for his sister to follow. They walked a few feet from them and stood near a tree.

"_Far-kas sonia darkal be-ral, deore ch'ija quega noba dru kelsa Bel'la." _(We can't just abandon our mission, we need to find what we're looking for and go home Bel'la.) Eli'ton said to his sister in his native language.

"_Hu-sa tor'jak, narwa inlabar wibru quu nedav mur-ke-fass, valtu lasha Eli'ton, nar-wed borka arxsa ula'ji dee' kauni alwaf ber." _(You know our people have been struggling for a long time and barely scraping by Eli'ton. Our only hope is to find leads that will revive our way of life.) Bel'la replied in her language too.

"_Oba, teh'has norsou wolqa basva gendi_, _hol'gu bezki qu arfa nijsa larme bru zua fors nel' te lall, ag hijnu wern bes-faw burz inka posta mur quu'haas spou do, genk." _(Fine, but first they need to help us. I have a feeling that cave isn't a two people job anyway. When they help us, I'll consider us joining them.) Eli'ton replied as he crossed his arms.

"_Renqu fal, pir masde, jaru'ce culnor tetba-besa woro muo hino traz'ho vis hube jasa." _(Thank you dear brother. They will help us, and we will help our world, now let's tell them.) Bel'la smiled to her brother.

The twins talked in their native tongue as the gang watched in wonder. The twins finished and walked back over to where they we're sitting and told them their plan.

"Okay, so here's the deal. We need to find an artifact that belonged to our people long ago. There's a cave not far from where we are. We have an ancient scroll that we 'borrowed' from our clans elders a year or so ago, and we've been on the roads ever since tracking leads, searching hidden shrines that our people made from ages passed." Bel'la explained as she showed them the scroll from a long pouch on her side.

"What makes you think the cave is in this area? This whole region is filled with old caves and mines. We would be out here for who knows how long searching." Kairaree asked them.

"Let's just say our people have a way of leaving marks. Plus the scrolls clues, once decrypted can be a very good lead on where we need to go." Eli'ton answered.

"What are your people exactly? And why are your people in trouble?" Odd questioned the twins.

"It's because their Altravaion's." Z Said as he spoke up from where he was leaning.

"How... how did you know? We never said we we're-" Bel'la said before Z continued.

"I'm a very good investigator and putting clues together, and we Zarcanions also keep tabs on organizations or secret society's. We know how to find information." He simply answered.

"But you haven't told us what is wrong with your people, and what will an artifact do to help?" Ulrich asked them.

"For a long time our people have been dying off, our generations and lineage have been thinning out. There are over a hundred clans with almost a hundred-thousand of us in each one. We live in deep mountains and caverns, and have built our homes and way of life in them. But as the ages passed and being scattered across the lands have prevented us from bringing all our clans fully together. And as for the artifact, we don't know how or why it will help us, we just know we need to find it. Doing nothing hasn't done us any good either." Bel'la explained as a tear fell down her eye as Eli'ton put his hand on her shoulder for comfort.

"Well then, we'll help you two. You join us, and we will do whatever it takes to help your people." Jeremie happily offered.

"You all would really help us? We tried to kill you guys, you barley know us, and you want to help our people just like that?" Bel'la asked, surprised by his generous offer.

"I guess you could say we're just helpful that way. And like we said, our worlds and all peoples of our worlds are in danger from the wrath of Xana." Yumi said to the twins.

"Then in that case, we accept. Thank you all." Bel'la replied with a smile.

"Hey, it's what we do. So now lead the way." Odd said as he jumped from his bench.

"Knulgen! Get your ass up now!" Aracane shouted as he shook Knulgen awake on the table he was lying on.

"What, what is it?" Knulgen asked as he woke up.

"You slept through most of it. I'll explain on the way." Aracane replied as the gang made their way to the lost mine.

So the gang and they're soon to be joined twin friends headed to the mine with the twins in the lead since they knew the way. The trip took them to a high peak and it stood out from all the other mines in the whole area.

"So this is it huh? Now what makes this mountain so special again?" Odd asked as they looked at the wide cave.

"The scroll lead us here. It's the only natural cave here. It's thousands of years old, and all the other caves are man-made by the miners of this area, so we just now have to find the shrine." Bel'la said with anticipation of being so close to what they are looking for.

"The only problem is the sign in front of the cave. It says, 'Do Not Enter. Potential Tunnel Collapse' We need to think of a safe way in before-"

SLICE!

Jeremie didn't finish his sentence because Knulgen sliced the old wooden sign that was planted in front of the cave in half right down the middle as the two pieces fell and hit the ground.

"And now the cave is okay to enter." Knulgen said with a smirk as he sheathed his sword.

"Just because you sliced it, doesn't mean the cave is safe." Jeremie said in an annoyed tone.

"It's going to be dark in there. So take out the glow sticks and bend them to light up when we enter." Z said to them as he fished out the sticks from his pack, as well as the others. The gang made their way into the mine. there was leftover mining equipment and even an old rail line that went all the way down the mine.

"Okay guys, grab some glow sticks and flashlights, it's going to be dark from here on out." Ulrich called out as he and the others who were carrying backpacks offered the glow sticks and flashlights to everybody else.

"We'll find the deepest past of the mine first, and we'll take it from there." Eli'ton said to them as he tore down an old post up map of the tunnel and looked over it with his flashlight before they began to search.

Two hours passed before the gang got to the farthest part of the mine. Most of the caves had either collapsed or blocked off due to the mine being over mined and left unattended over the years.

"So Bel'la, whats your home like? Whats it called?" Yumi asked, trying to make conversation.

"My brother and I were born in the clan of the Belrenma, it's over a thousand miles from here. The mountain our clan lives in is called Ridged Mountain, because the mountain is long, and has ridges all across it." Bel'la said as she talked about her home.

"I've heard of Ridged Mountain. Very remote, very secluded. Nobody would bother you and your people." Z said as he looked over to them.

"Yes, we also have outside help that brings us supplies. Very few have the honor of knowing who we are and where we live." Bel'la replied.

"Do you people have electricity and other modern items?" Jeremie asked.

"We do. We have all kinds of modern appliance and communications to keep up with the times. We also draw power from our built in hydro plants deep in the mountains natural springs and have waste treatment before we let the water back into the springs. We even have satellite uplinks to keep track of things going on in the world." Eli'ton added in.

"I'm amazed your people have gone this long without being discovered, you would think somebody might stumble upon your home at some point?" Kairaree said to them.

"Well we don't just stay in our mountains, sometimes we leave in very small groups to have a look of the outside world. And some of us even create fake identity's and get careers in big businesses and companies so we can further help our clans and even make sure our mountain homes stay undisturbed, like a natural habitat or protected wildlife area so nobody can discover us." Bel'la added.

"I hope we all can have a visit in your home clan one day." Aelita said.

"Maybe someday we will let you visit, if the elders approve. But be warned, you will have to prove your worth if they do." Bel'la said to them in a serious tone.

"We're at the end of the tunnel guys. So now what do we do now?" William asked as he shinned the light against the rocky wall. The end of the tunnel they were in was a large area that looked like it wasn't tapped into. There was a few crates and more mining equipment, and even a few old bed frames.

"This must be it! This area is completely untouched, there must have not been any valuable resources here or something." Bel'la exclaimed as she and her brother looked over the area.

"This place must have been used as an extra supply storage, so it would make sense for your ancestors to hide something here if there's nothing of value to mine for." Z said as he looked over the abandoned supplies.

"But where is the shrine? I hope it hasn't been found." Aracane said.

"Maybe it has and a miner got a 'good' payday for himself." Knulgen said while looking at the rocky ceiling of the cave with his flashlight.

"Don't say that you jerk!" Sam whispered to him while giving him a kick to his leg. "Bel'la, do you think the shrine is hidden somewhere in here?" She then asked.

"I'm sure, it would have to be so nobody can stumble upon it by accident. Let's spread out and search the place, alert us if anyone finds anything suspicious." Bel'la said as they began thier search.

"Yo guys! Check this out." Odd yelled out. The gang came over and shined they're lights on what Odd found. He found a number of light stands and a crank up generator.

"Great job Odd, we can search this place better. Everybody grab a light stand and set them up. Jeremie, you get the generator set up and we will light this place." Z commanded as he grabbed a light stand and unraveled the cord and setting up the folding legs. The gang each took a light stand and set it up in a makeshift circle and Jeremie finally got the generator in working condition and everybody connected a cord into it's outlets.

"This generator is hand cranked, so Aracane, would you do the honors?" Jeremie asked him.

"No problem Jer, stand back." Aracane replied as he cracked his knuckles. He grabbed the crank and began to spin it. As the generator got power back in it, the lights from the stands began to illuminate slowly. Finally after a few minutes, the generator had enough power to sustain itself for awhile. The cave was far more better to see now, there was some moss and plants lining the walls and ground with damp dirt as well.

"Now that we can see better, where do we began to look?" Odd asked.

"There's no marks anywhere, so maybe there's a fake wall or something. Everyone, look for something out of place in here." Bel'la said as they began to look. They all took a spot to feel the rock walls as they slowly walked and tapped against they're chosen wall for anything unusual or out of place. As everyone searched, Bel'la had wondered a little away from the group as she kept tapping the walls until something caught her attention. The wall she tapped had a hollow thud to it as she tapped it again and again. She then realized she found it.

"Eli'ton! Everyone, I think I found it. Over here, hurry!" She called out to them. Everyone quickly ran to where she was and looked at the wall too.

"This wall is very high, almost to the roof. It must be only a few feet deep." Eli'ton said as he looked over the wall.

"William, Ulrich, grab a pickaxe or something, let's see if we can break it down." Yumi said as the two nodded and went to find some pickaxes.

"We're gonna need more then that Yumi, we need like an explosive to get this wall down." Z said to her.

"Then it's a good thing we found this!" Ulrich said as he caught everyone's attention. They turned around and saw what Ulrich had, a bundle of dynamite.

"Where did you find that Ulrich?" Aelita asked.

"We found it with the pickaxes, figure we might need it." William answered.

"Make a hole in the center with the pickaxes as big as you can, then I'll put the dynamite in and light it. With luck it will be enough to take this wall down." Z said to them. Ulrich and William began to pick away at the walls center. After a few minutes they made a hole big enough to put the bundle in.

"Head back to the entrance of this cave, it's going to be a big bang." Z said to them as he was about to light the fuse. The gang made haste to the caves entrance and ducked inside of it. Z then light the fuse and without a moment of hesitation, ran to where they were and dived in with them. The fuse slowly burned as the gang watched, hoping they will find what they need on the other side.

KA-BOOM!

The explosion shook the the whole cave as it reverberated with a high pitched ring. When it died down the gang made they're way back to it. The smoke was thick, but it finally settled when they reached the end.

"My god, there's a tunnel down here!" Eli'ton said with joy as he looked down the new opening. They dug away the remaining rubble that still blocked most of the new opening. Aracane tossed the boulders with ease. Finally the cave entrance was clear.

"So this is it Eli, we finally found what we've been looking for all this time." Bel'la said to him with hope. The gang slowly walked down the tunnel with the twins leading the way with the lights from their glow-sticks and flashlights until they finally came to it's end.

"Holy crap! Look at this shrine." Knulgen exclaimed as the whole gang looked in wonder of it. It was over eight feet in height and three feet across. It was simple in look, but with exotic markings all over it. The whole shrine was carved into the wall itself in the small room, but big enough for everyone to stand in with no problem.

"Look sis, in the middle of the alter," Eli'ton said, pointing to the shrine. A tall pot like item with a cover was standing right on the alter as they all walked over to it and observed it from where it sat.

"Go ahead you two, it's what you been looking for all this time." Sam said to them.

The twins nodded with agreement. Eli'ton slowly and gently grabbed the vase in case it was booby-trapped and then held it to his sister. Bel'la then took the lid off, and with a deep slow breath, put her hand in it. A look of disappointment spread across her face as she pulled out a elegant golden cylinder.

"This can't be what we're looking for." Bel'la said to him.

"Open the cylinder, maybe it's inside." Eli'ton said with hope. She twisted the top off and looked in, she then pulled out what appeared to be another scroll, similar to the one they have.

"So it's goes without saying, that can't be what your looking for, right?" Odd asked. Bel'la unraveled the scroll and looked it over. The scroll had strange markings and symbols that amazed the gang and obviously frustrated Bel'la as she looked it over.

"I can't read it, at least not right now. It would take me some time to decipher. It's written in a very old language of ours, only a few have the privilege to know this ancient language." Bel'la said with heavy disappointment in her voice.

"Why do only a few know this language? What's so special about it?" William asked.

"It's the first language of our people, why it's not used anymore, I don't know. But only the elders of each clan know it, and the high priestess's as well. Just... just like our mother did." Bel'la replied with a few tears running down her cheeks.

"Did? You mean your parents are gone too?" Aracane asked.

"Yes, it was when we we're ten or so, our parents took us to another clan, the clan of Obnerka, far from where we lived. The clans leaders thought their home was in danger, so our parents and some extra clan guardians went there." Eli'ton explained.

"Your father was a clan guardian too, I take?" Yumi asked.

"He wasn't just any clan guardian, he was the master guardian of our clan. Each clan has a small army worth of men and women warriors. They wear full body armor like my brother, and use the arm blades as their main weapons." Bel'la continued, picking up where her brother left off. "Apparently the leaders fear was true. One day a explosion tore open a hole directly above us over the outskirt of the clans living area, and a number of military like men dropped in and attacked the city."

"What did they look like? Where there any markings, or flags, or symbols on their left upper arm or chests? What was the color of they're armor? Maybe I can identify them." Z asked with a little anger in his voice.

"We don't know, their armor was black and bulky, and their faces were covered by a black visor on the helmets. Even today we still don't know who they were." Bel'la started back up. "So as the invaders came in, our parents and other clan guardians fought them off while the leader took us away. I still remember it, the whole colony burning, the sound of gunfire, and the cruel shouts of those strange invaders before the leader of that clan took us away through the escape tunnels with the rest of his clan before we lost sight of our parents." Bel'la finished, unable to continue.

"After the invaders ran away, some of the Obnerka warriors went back to investigate. The whole colony was burnt to the ground with only a few burnt out building standing. They looked around to retrieve our fallen warriors to give them a proper burial, but there was no trace of the invaders, and what's even stranger is that they took away their dead, it's almost like they were never there. But the thing is, they found all the fallen warriors, but not our parent's, absolutely no trace of them, it's like they just vanished or something." Eli'ton said, picking up for his sister.

"And the rest of that clan, what happened to them?" Ulrich asked.

"The survivors broke off into a number of family groups and were welcomed into the other near by clans to begin anew there. It was a hard journey, but they all made it, as well as us being brought back to our clan, there are some survivors living there now. Anyway, after some years we decided to help our people by finding the artifact, so we can forever have our people safe from things like this." Bel'la said.

"Come on guys, let's head back up to the surface, I don't like being in this cave any longer then I need to be." Eli'ton said.

With their search a dead end, the group headed back to the surface, which didn't take as long since they knew the way back. When they reached the surface, it was only early noon when they got out.

"We're sorry you two didn't find what you we're looking for, but we promise we will do whatever in our power to help your people." Kairaree said as they adjusted to the sunlight.

"I know you all will, and I know we said we will join after we found the artifact, but since we now know the danger of this Xana, it's best we join now and try to find our artifact on our journey with you." Bel'la said as a smile came back.

"Okay then sis, let's do this together." Eli'ton said as he stood next to her.

"Here you go you two, just swear to join our cause." Aelita said as she took the amulet out from her front top. The twins took it and held it together, they paused for a moment, as if they we're thinking it over at the same time.

"We swear to join your cause and stop this Xana for good." The twins said together. With the twins now on the gangs side, two more of the gems on the amulets body lit up, signaling the next two warriors have joined the group. The twins then gave it back to Aelita.

"Now that's what I call 'finding two birds with one amulet' get it guys?" Odd said with his weak joke.

"That was lame, even for you Odd." Jeremie said with disappointment, and even some of the others groaned in agreement.

"Well despite Odd's joke, it's a great find to have two more warriors on our side now. We are ever closer to finding all the rest." Aracane said.

"Then let's not waste anymore time with finding the other warriors. Aelita, give us a heading on where the arrow is pointing." Ulrich said with a smile.

"Guys, your not going to believe this." Aelita said with disappointment and surprise in her voice.

"Oh no, what is it Aelita?" Jeremie asked, fearing the worst as they all came to look.

"Unbelievable!" Yumi said with shock.

"Now we're in for it." Knulgen said.

"I don't believe it, there's more." Ulrich added in. just like with the twins and the two arrows, the gang and their new members looked onto the amulet as it now showed four arrows pointing in the direction they needed to go.

"So now we got four warriors to find. Well at least we're narrowing it down guys, so now it's once again a matter of time until we find them." Z said with hope.

"Then let's get going, we don't have a moment to loose." Eli'ton said with a smile.

"He's right friends, next warriors, here we come." Bel'la added as they all agreed and began to make their way down the mountain and onward to where ever the next four warriors resided.

**END CHAPTER**.


	14. THE FOUR WARRIORS OF THE AQULSA HARBAQ

**CHAPTER 14: THE FOUR WARRIORS OF THE AQULSA HARBAQ**

The twins have now become members of the ever growing group of warriors. After they have joined the gang, the amulet has now showed that there are four more members that are together, and must be found. "So does this amulet always show multiple arrows on the orb?" The newest member Bel'la asked.

"Well from what Guardian Warrior said, the amulet points to the soul of the warrior. And sometimes when people are close like lovers or in you and your brothers case, you two being siblings, the amulet leads to souls that are connected to each other." Yumi explained.

"So all we got to do is look for four siblings, seems simple enough." Eli'ton casually said.

"Or lovers. Don't forget that." Knulgen spoke up.

"But Knulgen, there's four arrows. Remember?" Kairaree reminded him.

"I didn't say it was just two. Maybe it's a lucky guy with three girlfriends." Knulgen smirked.

"Is he always like this?" Bel'la whispered to Yumi.

"I'm afraid so, but You two will get use to it." Yumi replied.

"Hey I'm just saying. We need to keep an opened mind to what the next warriors could be. Like a guy getting nailed by three chicks." Knulgen added.

"Knulgen, you can either walk down this mountain, or get thrown off. Your choice." Aracane said with a grim tone.

"You wanna go pal? Let's do it!" Knulgen said while gripping the handle of his sword.

"So we're already back to this again?" Aracane replied as he gripped the handle of his ax.

"So what round is this now? I lost count." William joked.

"Can't you two ever get along? You could learn from these two Knulgen." Kairaree said, pointing to the twins.

"Well to be fair, Aracane is only protecting himself from our sword swinging manic." Jeremie chimed in.

"And your next, four-eyes!" Knulgen sneered, pointing his sword in Jeremie's direction. Jer then put his hands up in defense.

"Put your sword away, or I'll put a bullet in your knee. And you can limp down the rest of the way." Z warned as he pointed his gun at Knulgen.

"Whatever." Knulgen simply said as he let go his swords handle.

After Knulgen calmed down, the gang continued down the small mountain, following the amulets lead through the misty area. It was about two hours until they finally made it out of the reign and into clearer area with a small forest at the bottom of the mining area. Some time later the gang kept walking the path of the amulet. As the gang made their way out of the forest they were walking, the smell of sea-salt began to fill their noses.

"Are you guys smelling sea-salt? It's really heavy." Odd said as he pinched his nose.

"I think we're near a port, that must be the reason." Sam added. The gang quickened their pace to see what was at the other end of the forest. When they exited the forest, the gang finally saw where the smell was coming from. They found a port not far from where they were standing. It was a small hub for transporting resources and people with a few shops and restaurants and lodges for travelers.

"So I'm gonna ask, the amulet is pointing across the sea, right Aelita?" Ulrich asked her, even though he knew the answer.

"Yes, looks like we're travailing by ship now." Aelita answered while looking at the amulet.

"Then we need to hurry, the ship could be leaving anytime now." Eli'ton pointed out. The gang headed to the docks where there was a number of docked boats and ships. From fishing boats and passenger ships, and even a cargo ship docked for repairs. The small port had a number of people walking the streets and conducting business in the shops and vendors. The gang kept to themselves as they walked to the harbor, no one really paying them any attention, for wondering warriors come and go from this place. They reached the harbor master who was an Aquamarin leaning against a booth near a large ship. The gang walked up to the harbor master to buy tickets.

"Excuse me sir, we need tickets to leave this area. Do you still have room on your ship?" Kairaree asked, for she had most of the money leftover from the battle with Mr. Markriu and his pay for the assassin's.

"Why yes young lady, there's plenty of room. Do you want the whole trip or stop at one of the five islands? Or you can gt off at one of the five islands before we reach the continent." The Aquamarin asked, explaining the ships course.

"We'll take the whole trip unless there's an island that catches our interest." Kairaree replied as she handed him the money for their tickets.

"Suit yourself, if you want to get off at one of the islands, that's fine, but you still have to pay for the whole trip." The Aquamarin said as he counted the money.

"We understand, we're looking for someone anyway, and we're not sure where they are. So we'll sail this ship until we are sure we found where we need to be." Kairaree said as she took the tickets.

"Well now that you young ones have purchased your tickets. Welcome aboard The Crasher. We set sail in twenty minutes." The Aquamarin happily said as he lead them up the ramp to the ship. It wasn't massive, but it wasn't small either, but big enough to carry a few hundred people, including the sailors who work on it. It also had a long deck in the back and the front. A three level deck living area in the middle of the ship where the passengers sleep, and the mess hall inside. The helm where the captain and higher ranking crew steer the ship. Inside the ship is where the cargo is held, and where the crew sleep as well. The gang was lead to their room, which was the large company section near the back of the ships deck levels. It had a number of beds for them and even a living room, the place was almost like a studio apartment.

"This place is amazing, it almost seems like a luxury ship, rather then a transporter ship." Kairaree said as she and the gang took in they're new room.

"Well that's because this ship was. It started out as a cargo carrier, then converted into a battle ship for a number of years, then it got fixed into a private cruise ship. Then when the business went under, it was sold to my captain, and for a number of years it has been used to carry cargo again, with passengers for extra money. So to put it simply, this ship has a long history." The Aquamarin said as he handed them a few of them keys to the place.

"Thank you sir, we'll enjoy our time on board." Yumi said as she took a key.

"I'm sure you will. Now dinner will be ready in a few hours, and remember, there's no curfew, but try not to be out on deck at night unless you got a group. The last thing we need is someone overboard without us knowing." The Aquamarin said before he left to attend his duties.

As the gang picked their beds on where they would sleep, Knulgen chose to sleep on the couch, although nobody knew why. Finally the ships whistle blew loud, signaling that they we're casting off. The gang took the rest of the day to take in the view. For miles they could see nothing but ocean while Aelita kept the amulet close until they pass one of the islands the ship makes port at. They all hanged out at the back end of the ship because they wanted to stay out of view from the other passengers. As they looked out into the view, they couldn't help but notice that Knulgen was leaning over the rails with his knees almost touching the ground.

"Knulgen, are you okay? Why have you been leaning over the rails?" Bel'la asked as she and a few of them walked over to him.

"Uuuhhgggg, oooohhhh, awwwwawaa!" Was all Knulgen could reply, for he looked sick and a little green in the face.

"Are you sea-sick? You've been leaning over that rail for a long time." William asked.

"I- I- I I've felt like shit since we got on this jalopy of a ship." Knulgen replied as he fought back the urge to puke.

"I'm gonna see if the infirmary has any medicine." Sam said as she walked away.

"Until she gets back, come sit down with us by the benches, maybe that will help calm you down." Odd said as he gave him a pat on the back.

"Okay, okay I'll just- bbllaahhh!" Before Knulgen could finish, he began to puke over the rails of the ship. "Somebody hold my damn hair!" Knulgen yelled before he was hit by another puke attack, and as he began another heave, Bel'la and William grabbed a few strands of his messy dreadlocks but still kept themselves as far as they could while he puked over the rails while Aracane laughing like crazy.

"Aracane, it's not funny!" Kairaree said to him with a serious tone.

"It's a little funny." Ulrich whispered to Eli'ton. While Knulgen vomited over the rails until Sam finally got back with some medicine. After Knulgen was done, the gang took the rest of the day to settle in. They ate dinner in the mess hall, except Knulgen, who just ate bread to settle his stomach. The night soon came in, and they all headed back to their large cabin. As usual, they cleaned themselves up while Bel'la looked at the scroll they found earlier that day, looking it over very hard while taking notes on a small notebook she had.

Eli'ton took off his armor to polish up, apparently he wore simple black slacks, and a sleeveless black shirt under the armor. Knulgen just lied down on the couch, making small groaning noises, for he was still felling sickly. Most of the others were either watching TV or sitting down on couches and seats.

Kairaree walked out of the cabin and onto the large deck of the third level deck area where they're cabin was just across from. She was wearing a long bathrobe from the shower with her hair down and still a little damp. She just got done with her shower since the cabin only had two, and they needed to take turns. She leaned over the rail to look out into the sky night with the waves crashing against the boat. "It's a nice night." Kairaree said as she sighed to herself.

"The sea air is very calming." A voice called out. Kairaree gasped in surprise as she turned around to see Z leaning against the wall with one foot up against the wall.

"Oh it's you Z. how long have you been there?" Kairaree asked a little embarrassed.

"I was the first out of the shower, and I've been here since." Z replied.

"Why aren't you inside with everybody else? They seem to be having fun getting to know each other more." Kairaree said as she walked over to him.

"I'm fine out here, socializing isn't one of strong suits." Z said. He was wearing his sunglasses but she could see the slight glow from the night vision.

"Come back inside, it's not that hard to talk to people." Kairaree smiled to him as she gently lead him back inside by pulling his arm while deciding not to protest. After Kairaree locked the door and went back in the bathroom to get back in her clothes while Z sat down with the rest. After awhile the gang was about to get ready for bed until a knock at the door alerted them all.

"Who could that be at this hour?" Yumi said.

"Open the door slow, it could be trouble." Z said as he readied his for his handgun and aimed it at the door.

"I'll open it, but I gotta say, I'm not in a mood for a fight." William said as he reached for the knob. He slowly unlocked it and opened the door. As William looked out, his face went wide with surprise as he opened the door all the way for all to see, it was Guardian Warrior standing at the threshold of the door.

"Are you going to let me in? Or just have me stand here all night?" GW asked with a smile.

"Hey GW, I was wondering when we would see you?" Odd waved to him.

"Well Bel'la, Eli'ton, this is Guardian Warrior. He's our guide in our journey to find the warriors." Kairaree said as she introduced the twins to him.

"So this is really him, he's amazing." Eli'ton said.

"Well he does really seem like he's not of this world." Bel'la said as she rolled up her scroll.

"And you two are the ones the amulet was pointing to, glad that the mystery was absolved." GW replied to the twins.

"Yeah, but now the amulet is pointing to four people. I don't know how many more we can take." Sam said to him.

"I know it seems like a lot of people to have with you all, but understand this. Everyone of you has an important roll to play, and defeating Xana will take all of you working as one." GW explained.

"Come to think of it, what does this Xana look like? You said he has a body on this world, but how will we recognize him?" Bel'la asked.

"I'm on it, I'll draw his symbol again." Odd said as he took a piece of paper from Bel'la's notebook and drew. After he was done, Odd showed it to Z and the twins who looked it over very closely.

"So we just find someone with this on him, and he's our guy, simple enough." Z said as he looked at the picture.

"So I guess you we're once again checking in on us?" Jeremie asked GW.

"I was, and once again I am amazed by your ever growing team, and soon all the warriors will be complete. Now I must leave, but I have a feeling I will see you all again soon." GW finished as he left and closed the door behind him, leaving the gang once again.

"Was GW here? I thought I heard him?" Knulgen said as he sat up on the couch before flopping back down to go back to sleep.

So with GW's visit out of the way, the gang took they're places in their chosen beds to sleep, hoping that the next warriors will be found soon.

DAY 11

On the island with a small mountain in the center with forests surrounding the mountain and massive beaches all around called Hookcut Island. A fishing community with over a thousand people. Most of the people that live on the island are fishers, while some are farmers, or work the stores of the islands cozy town near the large docks where the many ships were docked.

Not far from the docks, a lone ship stood out from the rest. It was a battleship that has defiantly seen action in it's years. The ship was not nearly as big as a full-blown battleship, it was the type that is meant to be fast and maneuverable, with a number of cannons mounted on the front and sides like an old war vessel of the early cannon ages, and compartments for cannons to pop out through the various levels of the ship, just like the ancient war ships as well.

Each level had ten rows of cannons on each side of the four level ship for quick drift by attacks. The front of the ship was heavily reinforced for ramming, it could break through ships around it's size and plow down smaller ships without effort. The middle was wide and open for it once had the sail mass there when it was a sail-ship. Near the back was the captains deck for steering and controlling the ships engines and cannons and so on. Finally on the sides of the ship where the name is boldly displayed.

The ship is called, THE AQULSA HARBAQ. A door near the captain deck opened and a young Aquamarin boy walked out onto the main deck. He was wearing a dark gray shirt and long sleeve coat and long pants with blue trims and inlets, and wearing very dark green pants. His skin was a more light green and his eyes were a dark brown, and his dreads went down to his mid-back with one larger and longer dread in the middle of his dreads.

He walked in the middle of the deck carrying a weapon. It was a scythe with the top part light black, and the bottom part gray, both sides of the scythe was sharp, with a saw like part near the back end of the top blade, giving him a cutting edge no matter how it strikes his opponents. The handle was curved, giving him a better grip and it could even fold to carry it around better.

As the sun slowly raised, he took a deep breath enjoying the cool salt air. He stood in a stance for a few seconds with his scythe held back in a striking position. He then began his daily practice, his swings and strikes were fast and would be lethal if he had enemy's to fight. He continued his practice until the door opened again as another Aquamarin stepped out and leaned against the wall.

He looked just like the one with the scythe but his clothes had bright red trims and inlets instead. The only difference is that his right coat sleeve was ripped off at the elbow, leaving his forearm exposed, and his clothes looked a little more worn out. His eyes were a little lighter brown, and his dreads went a little past his shoulders, but with four dreads that were much longer going down his back. He had three dreads near the left side of his head were cut short, a battle scar from long ago. And finally he was more buff looking then the other.

"That's some good fighting Leadonus. If you were fighting an enemy, you would win. If the enemy was the air." The other Aquamarin said to the scythe wielding one known as Leadonus.

"Oh that's funny Ralfaius. And while your at it, maybe you can fight an opponent that's at your level. Like the fishes in our net would provide a real challenge for you." Leadonus replied with a smile.

The one known as Ralfaius made a small growl and walked over to where Lea stood. He had two sets of weapons strapped near the back of his waist. One was a pair of sais, but not like normal ones. The long middle points were sharp and diamond shaped on the tips for powerful piercing and stabbing opponents, as well as the prongs on the sides of the sais too, and they also had small rings near the top of the handles connected to the underside of the prongs for better holding and display. His other pair of weapons were straight blades, almost as long as a short sword, but more knife like in shape with one side that is sharp on each blades with two hooks on each side of the blades guards for catching enemy's weapons to disarm them.

"Wow, the suns not fully up and you already want to fight, Mr. angry guy." Leadonus said a little mockingly..

"Yeah, I want to fight and win this early morning." Ralfaius replied as he pulled out his sais and twirled the rings in his fingers before holding them.

The brothers took their stances and walked around each other with their weapons held at the ready.

"So where's Deotalus and Miodelus, they should be up by now?" Leadonus asked while standing his ground.

"Smart boy is fixing some useless gadget or whatever. And numb-brain is still sleeping." Ralfaius replied as he dashed at him, beginning they're morning spar.

()()()()()()()()

Inside the ship, the one know as Deotalus was sitting at a bench in the lower part of the ship where there was a number of equipment and tools, and scattered across the large room was a number of computer and engine parts, as well as spare parts all over the place. Deotalus looked just like the others, but his dreads were a little shorter but had two larger dreads that went down all the way to the back of his waist. And his clothes were the same as the others but had green trims and inlets instead, and had a brown belt with little pouches around it. He sat at the bench with a pair of goggles over his eyes as he used a welding-gun to patch up a radio transmitter.

"Okay, I replaced to audio transmitter with a new circuit, and fixed the broken wires, and finally patched up the cracks on the body. Old man Pert will be happy to get his radio transmitter back at his shop, I just hope he secures it down better this time. That wasn't a very strong wind that blew it down a few days ago." Deotalus said to himself as he pulled the goggles up to his forehead and stretched.

"I guess now I should go up and get some breakfast... and coffee. I've been up since three in the morning to fix this." He said as he walked over to a wall in the corner. "And I also finished putting the finishing touches of my improved trident." Deo said as he took his trident off the wall mount.

The Trident's staff part was seven feet long with a handmade rubber insulated grip at the center for better holding. The bottom part was heavier for more powerful striking and balance. The trident head was not only a little longer then most tridents, it was also sharp on all points which looked more like blades for cutting, as much for stabbing, and the way the trident head was shaped to look like a straight "W" shape. He put the trident in the long harness on his back and walked up the stairs to the living area and kitchen.

()()()()()()()()()()()

In another part of the ship, the one known as Miodelus, had just woken up in his messy room filled with comics and old action figures and video game cases. He also looked like the other brothers but his dreads were simple, they went a little past his shoulders and that was all. His clothes were just like the others but with yellow trims and inlets. After he put his clothes on, he put his weapons in there holsters. He put his Three-Section-Staff in the long harness on his back and the matching Nun-chucks in it's holsters. They were made of metal with a spring-out hidden blade at the bottom of each side of the nun-chucks, making them a really deadly weapons.

"Now that I'm sure my pants are on, I will make breakfast. And that means waffles!" Miodelus said to himself as he left his room. He walked to the top level living area where the large kitchen was. He opened the fridge and took out all the ingredients and waffle iron and mixed the batter. He was about ready to pour the batter when Deotalus came into the room.

"Hi bro Deo!" Miodelus said in his cheery tone.

"Morning Miodelus. I see your making waffles... again, just like the morning before, and the morning before." Deotalus said, a little sick of waffles.

"Yep, waffles are the best. And while this batch is cooking, I will say morning to sister." Miodelus replied as he walked over to the sitting area. "Good morning Taleius, how's it going?" Mio said... to a picture of a older female Aquamarin.

"Why do you always talk to that picture of our sister? She cant hear us you know." Ralfaius said as he and Leadonus walked back in from outside the deck.

"So I guess we're having waffles again Mio?" Leadonus asked, tired of eating waffles.

"I talk to our sister's picture as a way of waiting for her to come home one day." Miodelus said as he picked up the picture of his sister. The large multiple layered shelf held a number of pictures. The picture Mio held was of her with the sea for a background and she was standing on the front of they're ships deck. She was wearing the same clothes as them but a much lighter gray and longer sleeves with a sash around her waist. Her eyes were a very bright brown and her dreads were a little larger and went down all the way past her waist. She held a long straight sword with a small guard in it's sheath that made it look like a flat staff with a tassel at the end of the handle. It is Mio's favorite picture of her.

The others consisted of all kinds you would see in a family. One of their sister as a baby, another of the four boys as babies lying in a row, another of their sister as a little girl in a beautiful dress, another with her in her teens with her arms over her little brothers holding them close between her, and another of all of them and even with their parents standing in front of what seemed to be a small mansion, and so on a number of other photos.

"Look Mio, sis has been gone for over four years while we and our ship, which has been in our family for over four-hundred years. Rotting away in this dead end fishing island." Ralfaius said with anger.

"This dead end island has also been very kind to us. They've let us live here, despite the fact that this is a war vessel." Deotalus said with an annoyed tone.

"Listen little bro, Ral is just upset. We've haven't seen her in a long time and we all just miss her in our own way. But I know we will see her again soon." Leadonus said as he patted Mio on the back and put the picture of their sister back on the shelf.

"Your right big bro, now let's have some waffles!" Miodelus said with joy as the smell of something burning came to their attention.

"Uhh, I think the waffles are burning." Deotalus said as he stepped away from the waffle iron while Lea and Mio ran to put it out.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back on the ship. The gang awoke and went on with their business, most of them went to eat breakfast, except for Knulgen, who was still feeling sea-sick. While Aelita kept a vigilant eye on the amulet.

"So Aelita, how's it going with the amulet?" Yumi asked as she took a seat with her outside near the far side of the ship.

"It's pointing to the island we're coming up to. Our next warriors might be there." Aelita replied.

"The island is called Hookcut Island. It's a fishing community, I don't see how the next warriors can be there." Z said as he walked over to them.

"What makes you think they're not there Z?" Yumi asked.

"It just doesn't seem like the place you would find warriors. Especially this far from the mainland." Z replied with a shrug.

"Well Z, a long time ago I would have never believed that a few teens from another planet would come to our world and tell us that we need to stop a evil being called Xana." Kairaree said as she came up to them to look at the view of the sea.

"Since we're close to the island, we all need to get everybody rounded up to get off the ship." Ulrich said as he came up to them as well.

"Have somebody help Knulgen out, he's still a little sick." Z Said to them.

It was around ten when Hookcut Island came into view. After the captain gave an announcement to the people on board of their first stop. The few dozen passengers that wanted to get off at the island lined up near the drop off side while the gang stood in the back with Eli'ton and William had Knulgen's arms over their shoulders.

The port where they were stopping at was a little farther from the islands main town with a few building and small storage areas. The ship docked and after it was secure, the boarding ramp hooked onto the ship, letting the passengers and the gang get off and unload the cargo that was going to this island, while the gang began their search.

"Now that we're back on land, which way is the amulet pointing Aelita?" Odd asked her.

"It's pointing north-east. We should head that way, maybe we can find a lead." Aelita replied pointing in the direction.

"I think I might know how to find a lead again." Z chimed in.

"How's that?" Eli'ton asked.

"Same way we got a lead on you two. The owner of that shop in the mining town." Z replied.

"You managed to get information on us from that shopkeeper?" Bel'la asked surprised.

"I'm really good at getting information. Now let's find a shop, this is a small community. They might know who we're looking for." Z said as they began to look for a shop.

They all spotted a hardware store not far from where they were standing from all of the other stores in the small strip of shops. It looked old but sturdy, for it had survived many of the tropical storms that have past over the years. Old Pert's Shop, it was called on the sign. They walked inside and looked around to look casual and not draw the wrong kind of attention. After a few minutes, the shop owner came out of the store room to greet them. He was an old human, around seventy or so, but seemed to be quiet springy for his age. "Hello there travelers, welcome to my shop." Pert said.

"Hello there, Pert I assume? How did you know were not from here?" Z asked him as he approached the counter .

"This is a small community, everyone knows everybody in some way or another. So I know you all aren't from around here. We're kind of like one big family. We even hold a big festival every year when the final harvest is done with the fishers that live here." Pert replied.

"Then in that case, you wouldn't by any chance know of four particular people? Like four people who are siblings around our age, do you?" Aelita asked the shopkeeper.

"Well if they're around your age, then the ones that come to mind are the Surfane brothers. They're Aquamarin quadruplets if you can believe it. They've been living on this island for over five years now." The shopkeeper Pert said.

"Quadruplets? Do you know them well?" Sam asked.

"A little, they mostly keep to themselves on their small warship. They say it's been in their family for over four-hundred years, and has been changed and updated as the centuries passed. The oldest is Leadonus, he's kind of the leader. The next is Deotalus, very, very smart boy, always wears goggles. He fixed my radio transmitter and brought it back here awhile ago in fact. I just got done installing it back on my roof. He also fixes other stuff for everyone around the town. now the next one is called Ralfaius, the boy is quite a hot-head and is quick to get angry, so it would be a good idea not to get him mad. Now the youngest of them is called Miodelus, he's... a bit of a goof, and a little off and simple minded, he loves comics and cartoons of heroes and such, but he's defiantly the nicest person around." Pert finished explaining the four brothers.

"So where can we find them? Where do they live?" Ulrich asked.

"They live in the main town on the docks, a little far from the rest of the fishing ships. But by now they're doing things around the town." Pert informed them. "But why are you all looking for them?"

"We need them for something. It involves them and their warship to start an expedition around the world and we heard of four teens that have a sturdy ship that we could use, and they're help as well." Jeremie lied, thinking of a quick answer for the shopkeeper.

"Oh then look no further, their ship has seen action before, but you will still have to convince them to accept your offer." Pert replied.

"No problem, we're good at convincing people. They got me to join their 'expedition' for what we're doing." Aracane said, lying a little.

"So now that we know who to look for, well began to look for them. Thank you again sir." Kairaree said as she and the others began to leave the shop. They headed towards the main town on the other side of island. They walked the paved path that was made between the forest and beach. After awhile Aelita stopped and looked closer at the amulet.

"Guys, the arrows on the amulet are moving in separate directions." Aelita said, catching their attention. Some of the gang came to look as the arrows pointed in different directions.

"Aww great! Now their all over the place and we have only one means of tracking them." Odd said whining a little.

"Calm down Odd, it's not like they're leaving the island anytime soon. We just have to track down the nearest one and convince the one we find to take us to the others" Aracane said.

"In that case we need to head more towards the beach, the arrow is shining brighter that way." Aelita said as she pointed towards the beach. The gang continued to walk the large path while watching the beach for anybody. As they got halfway to the main town, they came up on the beach which was the swimming area for the town's inhabitants to hang out and swim. One of the arrows on the amulet began to glow brighter then the others. Aelita alerted them and they made their way towards the beach. A few groups of people were there, swimming and having cookouts, playing games and volleyball while Knulgen watched the girls playing with a huge grin on his face.

"I see your feeling better Knulgen. The girls bouncing around help your sea-sickness go away?" Bel'la asked.

"Well I have been feeling better since we got off, and I got to say, this islands got some 'natural beauty' to it and all." Knulgen replied.

"We're not taking in the islands beauty, we're here to find four warriors which will be a huge gain on our end." Z said as they continued to walk the beach. They finally got to the shore but not the person they were looking for in sight. There was a large log with a pile of dark gray clothes with yellow trim and inlets on it with some dark green boots next to it with three holsters lying on the boots with one holster missing it's weapon.

"The amulet is pointing towards the water, the warrior must be swimming underwater." Aelita said. Just then, the water began to bubble and then the water broke as the one of the warriors they were looking for came into view. The person was an Aquamarin, like the shopkeeper said. He was wearing a swimming trunks only. The gang wondered which one was he?

As he walked up the shore, he had in one hand was a nun-chuck with both handles in one hand and two blades pointing out of the bottoms of each handle while he was dragging up a large small holed net with fresh fish flopping around in it in his other hand slung over his shoulder.

"Awesome! I got a big catch with this net. I'm glad my bros let me pick up our net, and I didn't lose it.. this time at least." The strange Aquamarin said to himself. He then looked up at the gang who was staring at him. "...Hi!" He said in a cheery tone while waving to them.

"Uhh, hello there..." Aelita said to the strange Aquamarin.

"You guys come from the mainland? Welcome to Hookcut Island, my name is Miodelus." He said to them as he flicked a trigger on the tops of his nun-chucks to make the blades retract into the handles.

"So your Miodelus? We're actually looking for you." William said.

"Really? Why are you looking for me?" Miodelus asked.

"Well you see... it's kind of a long story and we would like to tell you when we have all your brothers with you." Kairaree said.

"How do you know I have brothers! Are you psychic?" Miodelus said with a shocked tone then with a questionable tone.

"N-no, we're not psychic, but we really do need your help." Aelita said to him.

"Well in that case follow me, I'll take you guys to my brothers. They might be back on our ship." Miodelus replied as he put his boots and clothes and holsters in a bag while carrying the net full of fish. They started to head to town while the gang told him their names. When they finally got into town, the place was alive with activity for the people walked around to conduct their business and the fishing ships kept coming and going from the docks, hauling in they're catch for the day too be sold and exported across the region. As they all walked further into town, Miodelus began to wave to someone in the crowd.

"Miodelus, who are you waving to?" Yumi asked him.

"My big bro Leadonus, he's the oldest." Mio replied as his brother began to walk over to them.

"Hey there Mio, you brought the catch in, and not lose it this time." Leadonus said, glad that his brother didn't loose the net this time.

"You got that right brother, we're gonna have a big dinner tonight." Miodelus replied.

"And who are these people? You didn't break something of there's? Did you?" Lea asked, looking at the gang.

"Uuuhh... no, no I didn't this time. They say they need our help with something." Mio said pointing to them. The gang once again told their names to Leadonus and then told him they need to discuss something important to him. After he listened to them, Leadonus agreed to hear them out, he was really interested in what they have to say.

"Well in that case, why don't you all follow me back to our ship, I'm really interested in what you guys want with us. I just need to run by the electronics store to help our other brother Deotalus bring back some more parts and such to the ship. He buys a lot of the broken and discounted ones and fixes them into all kinds of inventions." Leadonus said as they followed him to the store.

They finally reached the store to see another Aquamarin with goggles on his forehead walk out pulling a large cart with several boxes filled with all kinds of parts and so on. "Oh hey Lea, hey Mio. I see you got quite a good catch of fish that will last us awhile. Who are these people?" Deotalus said as he saw the gang. Leadonus introduced the gang to him while explaining that they need the brothers help.

"What do you guys possibly need with us? We never even met before." Deotalus asked them.

"Like we said, we'll fill you in on the details when we have all four of you together." Z simply said to him.

"You guys sure the mysteries type, but no matter, we'll talk back on the ship." Deotalus replied as he began to drag his cart back to the ship with the rest following.

After awhile they finally reached the dock the brothers had their ship tied to. The gang marveled at how incredible the ship looked. Some of the gang helped Deo bring his parts into the ship while Mio went to put the mostly dead fish in a large freezer in the storage area and put his clothes back on while the gang got on board the ship. "Welcome to our home, it's roomy enough for all of us." Miodelus said to them as they entered the main living area.

"Hey Lea, I'll give them a quick tour of the place while you look for Ral." Diotalus said to his elder brother.

"Thanks Dio. He's probably in the workout room beating a new hole in that punching bag of his again." Leadonus said while Diotalus gave the gang a small tour of the inside of the ship and went over the rooms of the ship by showing them a map of the ships interior.

()()()()()()()

Lea made his way to the workout room and sure enough found Ralfaius beating a punching bag that has been patched and resown many, many, many times. As Ral continued to punch and kick the bag until he made a finishing move that broke the bag off it's chain and sent it flying a few feet away. Ralfaius cheered for his new record of how long it takes him to kick his punching bag off the chain. He then turned and saw Leadonus.

"Yo, you guys back from the town already?" Ralfaius asked him while stretching after his warmup.

"Yeah we are, and we need you up deck. There's some visitors that need to tell us something." Lea said.

"Visitors? What could they possibly have to tell us?" Ral asked curiously.

"We'll find out when they tell us." Lea replied. The two brothers then made their way back up to the top deck in the main living area. After Ralfaius met the gang and they introduced themselves to the last brother, although he didn't seem to interested in them.

"Alright, now that we are here, what is it you all have to tell us? It's not every day a group of warriors like you all just pop into town asking for us." Leadonus said too the gang.

"Well Aelita, since you've told the story most of the time. Why don't you fill them in?" Jeremie said.

"Sure Jeremie. Okay you four, this might seem hard to believe, but it what we're about to tell you is the truth. Now it started like this." Aelita said to them as she once again told the new soon to be joined Aquamarin brothers their whole story. Their life on Earth and battles with Xana and being sent to the planet Earthera and finding the other Earthera born members of their group and how they joined as they took turns telling them about their part in becoming members, and even told them about Guardian Warrior and all of them being chosen by fate to save their worlds and so on. After an hour or so Aelita and the group finished telling they're story.

The brothers stood there in silence as they took in everything they were told by the strangers in their home. "Wow... wow. That I got to admit is a lot to take in." Leadonus said while rubbing his head.

"I don't believe them, I say they're con artist." Ralfaius said sitting on the couch.

"Interesting, truly fascinating. People from another planet! This is easily the discovery of the century!" Deotalus said with wonder.

"Awesome! And that amulet, it really points to the chosen warriors?" Miodelus asked them.

"Yes it does. It leads to the person with the soul of the chosen warrior." Aelita said as she showed the brothers the amulet as the four arrows pointed to them.

"Cool. Oh wait let me try something." Mio said as he ran to the kitchen. "Is it pointing to me now?" Mio asked.

"Uuuhh, yes..." Aelita said, confused by his actions.

"Okay then. How about now?" Mio asked as he ran farther down the hall.

"Yes, it still is." Aelita replied.

"How bout now?" He asked again as he ran to the door.

"Yes." She said, now getting tired of this.

"Hold on," Mio said as he ran outside. "How about now?" His voice faintly called out.

"YES!" Everyone inside shouted, finally tired of his strange actions. Miodelus came back inside with them.

"Hey I just wanted to be sure. And bros, I think we should join them if our world is really in danger." Mio said to them as he closed the door.

"We can't just leave our ship Mio you nitwit. What if something happens to it?" Ralfaius said.

"Simple, we can just take it to our uncle Garous. We can contact him and, he can come and watch it." Deotalus said to him.

"That's might be a good idea Deo." Leadonus commented.

"Well I am full of good ideas." Deotalus replied with a smile.

"And your own ass." Ralfaius said with a grin while Deo glared at him.

"Anyway, we need to sleep on this and we'll talk about it in the morning. It's late afternoon, we'll all make a big dinner for you since your all our guests, and if there's one thing our parents taught us is to be good host. And after dinner we will show you all to your rooms." Leadonus said to the group.

"Ooh, I'll get some of today's catch from the freezer, we'll have a big dinner tonight." Miodelus said as he left and ran down to the freezer.

"Well if anybody cooks us a big meal is a friend of mine. I'll help him get some fish up." Odd said as he followed Mio.

While the food was being gathered to cook, the gang took the time to explore the ship. While the outside of the ship looked like a modern battle ship, a lot of the inside had wooden walls and panels and a number of antiquated items to give the ship it's old time look and long history of service. While Miodelus and Deotalus cook dinner, Aelita, Odd, Kairaree, William, and Bel'la helped them cook while Leadonus told all of them the story of the family and their ships history and service to the capital country of their species homeland and Ralfaius just sat at the couch watching TV.

Finally dinner was served, they all sat down and ate. The Earth born members told them stories of they're battles with Xana and the hardship of keeping it a secret while Deotalus continuously asked them questions about Earth and it's lands and technology while the other Earthera born members told a little about their life as well while at some point Ralfaius chased Miodelus around because he got on his nerves again. Finally dinner was over, the gang helped clean up and after they we're done, Leadonus showed them where they could sleep later.

"Thanks for the dinner. We're still complete strangers and you guys let us into your home." Ulrich said to Lea.

"Well you guys can't be lying, that amulet makes it hard to disprove. But like I said, we need to sleep on it and discuss it with ourselves. It's not an easy decision to make, no matter whats at stake." Leadonus said to him.

_THUNDER!_

Everyone looked outside the windows as a flash of lightning and crash of thunder was heard. "Looks like that storm is finally coming, it's gonna be a long night." Deotalus said.

"Miodelus, Ralfaius. Go outside and make sure the chain-tethers are secure. We don't want to sail away in the middle of the night." Leadonus asked the two, as they left to check all ten of the tethers that held the ship in it's dock.

"Why do you need to be tethered down? Why don't you drop anchor?" Z asked him.

"The anchor controls have not worked in a long time and pulling them up is too much of a hassle and they weigh too much as well." Leadonus replied.

After the two came back in after checking all the tethers. Ralfaius locked the chains in on the deck while Miodelus tightened the ones on the dock then rolled the walkway into the ship.

()()()()()()()()

As the night finally came in and the storm in full force as they all finally decided it was time to go to bed. Everyone took their rooms. The rooms the gang slept in were bunk beds meant for crew members while the Surfane brothers went to their own rooms.

()()()()()()()()()

The storm crashed and bellow as the waves clashed against the ship and dock where they were as the wind blew hard. Back at the main town, the fishers already had their fishing ships docked as they floated hard against the waves. The homes were locked up tight as the islands residents stayed in for the night. While the gang slept, the flashes of lighting illuminated the area briefly in between flashes. A mysterious figure stood on the dock of where the Aqulsa Harbaq was docked.

The person was wearing a black heavy raincoat with a large hood and had a large duffel bag in hand. He walked over to where one of the tethers were. He zipped the duffel bag open and pulled out a large chainsaw. It wasn't any common chainsaw, for it was a heavy duty type meant to work in any condition and weather. He revved it up and started it at full force without having to worry about them waking up, for the storm was too loud for anyone to hear the chainsaw. He went to the dock and began to cut the post.

One by one he cut the posts where the tethers were as the ship began to float further and further away from the lack of hold until he came to the last one. Although no one could hear him, he chuckled to himself as he cut the last post. The ship began to finally float away and into the sea as the man in the heavy raincoat and hood smiled before putting his chainsaw back in the duffel bag and walked away as the ship floated farther and farther away.

Nobody would have noticed they were floating away, for the waves of the storm covered up their unknown drift as they were all unaware of the troubles that they will face in the morning that will finally bring the Aqulsa Harbaq back in action.

**END CHAPTER.**


	15. BATTLE ON THE HIGH SEAS

**CHAPTER 15: BATTLE ON THE HIGH SEAS**

DAY 12

Leadonus woke up and stretched like he always does for a very long time. After he put his clothes on, he unfolded the curved handle of his scythe and walked up to the deck of the ship. He walked out with his eyes closed to fully enjoy the smell of the sea as he got ready to perform his morning exercise with his weapon. He then put himself in the position with his scythe held back in a striking position. He then opened his eyes to only have his face contort in shock. He saw nothing but open water for miles around. Lea dropped his scythe as he took in his surrounding. He then ran inside the ship at full speed.

"Guys! Wake up, wake up! We have a huge problem!" Leadonus yelled as he banged on everyone's door, waking them all up.

"Lea! What the hell are you doing waking us up this early in the morning?" Ralfaius said as he walked out of his room, rubbing his eye.

"Why does this ship feel like it's bobbing around more?" Deotalus asked as he walked out of his room too. By then everyone was awake and a little groggy from their sudden wake up call.

"Leadonus, what's wrong? You seem shocked?" Ulrich asked him.

"We're not docked anymore. We've floated out into open water." Leadonus simply said to them all. Everyone followed him up deck and walked outside. They were all shocked as they continued to float in the open sea.

"Oh no, what do we do now?" Kairaree asked.

"For starters, we don't panic. We're just floating in the sea, not sinking. We need to get the propeller generators started again so we can sail the ship back to port, and try to contact our uncle Garous. Maybe he can come and give us a tug back to port if we can't get back on our own." Leadonus said to them as he picked up his scythe.

"What do you mean you need to get the ships propellers started again?" Z asked.

"The ships been in need of some major repairs for some time. And we've never had the funds to fully fix the ship." Deotalus said as he thought over the things the ship needed.

"I'm actually good at fixing things myself. I can give you a hand if you want Deotalus." Jeremie said to him.

"Thanks Jeremie, the more the better." Deo replied.

"And while they're working on the ship, I'll make-" Miodelus said before his brothers interrupted him, knowing what he was going to say.

"No waffles!" The other three brothers said to him.

"Sorry little bro but we need to get the ship working again. We'll worry about food later." Leodonus said to him.

"Speak for yourself..." Odd said as his stomach growled a little.

The brothers and the gang spread out to help get the ship going. Leadonus, Ulrich, Yumi, and Z went up to the captains deck to get the ship started up. Z was the most help since he had knowledge in communication control. Deotalus and Jeremie worked in the engine room while Eli'ton, Sam, William, and Aelita assisted as best they could. (Aelita being the most help) While the others were at work, Ralfaius, Miodelus, Odd, Bel'la, Aracane, Knulgen, and Kairaree simply kept watch in case any ships come sailing by. After an hour or so, little progress has been made as the ship continued to float.

Leadonus finally got the intercom working and made an announcement to everyone on board. "Attention everyone. We managed to get the navigation up and running again, and from what it says, we've floated almost a hundred miles out into open water. But we still haven't got the radio working yet." Leadonus said to them all.

"Well that's just great! If we keep floating any farther we'll end up in gods know where." Ralfaius said as he leaned against the wall. Just then the clatter of chain caught his attention. He walked over to the nearest rail and looked over. In all the confusion they forgot about the tether chains that went to the dock posts. "At least now I know why we floated away. Miodelus forgot to secure the lines!" Ralfaius said out loud so Mio could hear.

"Hey! I did to make sure they were secure." Miodelus shouted.

"Stop arguing and pull those chains in, the last thing we need is to get snagged on something." Leadonus said over the deck intercom since he heard Ral from the captain deck.

"Yeah, yeah oh great leader..." Ralfaius said as he started pulling the chain up. As he pulled the chain, he noticed that it was heavier then usual. "Great, the chain must have got tangled in a net or something." Ral said to himself as he pulled the chain. Finally he got to the end when he noticed something on the other end. As he finally had the object break through the water, his face became purely shocked as he looked at the familiar object. He pulled it harder until he got it on board. He then realized that the heavy thing was part of the post that the chains were tethered too. "Oh shit, somebody cut our posts!" Ralfaius alerted everyone.

"I told you it wasn't my fault." Miodelus said in a sing-song tone with one hairless eyebrow raised. Ral's outburst caught everyone's attention as all who were on deck pulled up the chains and just like the first, all the chains were connected to a severed post. This caught Leadonus and the others attention as they all came on deck to look.

"Whoever did this knew what they were doing. They used a very powerful chainsaw to cut these post. And they did it in the cover of the night with the storm, we've would have never known until it was too late." Z said as he investigated the cut part of one of the posts.

"So somebody did this on purpose. But why, and who?" Deotalus said to them.

"Do you have anybody who might have a grudge against you? Somebody you have angry at you four? Yumi asked the Surfane brothers.

"Well if your talking about Mio here, then yes, a lot of people would have a grudge against him. What with all the damage he has caused." Ralfaius said out loud, knowing Mio would hear him. But Miodelus just gave him an angry look.

"Deo, Jeremie, get back into the engine room and fix it as fast as you can. I have a feeling that this is if far more then a prank or grudge over damaged property." Leadonus ordered as the two went back down below. "As for the rest of you, keep a lookout. We may be floating towards trouble." Lea finished as he went back to the captains deck to work on the radio.

Everyone on board was nervous except for Z. Who is trained to resist being nervous, but couldn't help but worry for the safety of the people on board who he started to consider them his friends. And neither was Aracane nervous, for he was taught that a Spardarac never shows fear or worry. No matter the danger. And Knulgen wasn't nervous because he was hoping for a fight to come their way.

Just then, Miodelus saw a small ship sailing their way. "Hey guys look! There's a ship coming our way!" Mio said, alerting everyone. "Hey over here! Hello, help us!" He shouted as he waved to the ship. Ralfaius ran up to him and pulled him away.

"Will you stop! We don't know who they are, or if they're even friendly." Ralfaius said to him.

"They're probably more friendlier then you, ya big jerk!" Miodelus replied. As the ship got closer, something began to happen on deck. The crew was running around doing stuff on board. It was then that Ralfaius took out his telescope from his coat pocket and looked at what was going on. He saw a cannon turret rotate and point right at them. KA-BOOM. The thunderous sound of a missile shell rang out as it hit the water right next to their ship, making a huge splash that got some on board.

"I... don't think they're friendly guys." Miodelus said to them on deck.

"Gee, Ya fucking think so Mio?!" Ralfaius shouted at him.

()()()()()()()

It was then that Leadonus knew they were in trouble when he saw the missile shell that hit the water next to their shp. He hailed Deo and Jeremie who were still in the engine room, "Deo, Jeremie. You guys need to get this ship running now. I think we're being attacked by pirates!" Lea said over the intercom.

()()()()()()()()

"We're doing the best we can. Just give us a few more minutes." Jeremie shouted back at the open mic while working on an engine part.

"Dammit! I should have had this ship fixed a long time ago." Deo shouted. "I can't believe that the shop that has been in my family for over four-hundred years. Is going to be sunk on my watch. What a disgrace!" Deo said to himself as he hit the side of the large engine with his wrench.

"Don't give up, we can do it. We just need to tighten up some loose parts and reset the connections." Jeremie said as he put his arm in another engine set to tighten some bolts.

()()()()()()()()()

Up deck the ship was getting closer and closer while firing a missile now and then, missing only slightly as it became far more clear to see. It had no marking or flags on it, it was most likely pirates. As for the crew, there were no means of telling who they were with or what they were affiliated with, for they were just a mix of different species and wearing simple clothes and carrying all kinds of different firearms and a few melee weapons on their belts. Leadonus stood at the wheel as if he knew the ship would come back on line soon.

"Come on Deo, I know you can do it." Lea said to himself as the ship began to aim at they're ship.

()()()()()()()()

Back below, Deo worked feverishly as he used just about every tool in his kit on the final component that would give power to the engines. Deo could here the sound of the missiles hitting the water right next to the ship.

"Come on, come on, work, please work." Deotalus said as he made the final connection and turned on the power on a panel near by. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. Just then a loud start-up noise was made as the engines power came to life. A triumphed music would be played if this was a movie, but either way, the sound of the engine coming back to life as Deotalus and Jeremie cheered for they're success.

()()()()()()()()()

Back in the captains deck the effects were easy to see. The screens that control the various functions that would be on any battleship come to life. Leadonus smiled and pulled the lever that controlled the speed of the ship and put it in high gear, making the ship move out of the missiles path just in time as everyone on deck held on from the sudden speed as the ship kicked off, making the other ship give chase. The enemy ship rotated it's cannons forward and fired off at them, missing only slightly.

"we're never gonna get them off our asses, they'll keep chasing us until they sink us." Ralfaius yelled over the missile fire.

"Then we will fight back! Ralfaius, get into the cannon loading bay and load up the missiles and get the gun turrets working too." Leadonus ordered over the com.

"I'll help you out too, I have experience with ship and other vehicle weapons." Z said as he followed Ralfaius into the missile loading room below deck. They made it into the room where the missiles are loaded. It was a room where the missiles were boxed and stored for the belts. The loading belts where a system of belts and tubes that would carry the missiles of standard size on the belts and load them through out the rows of the cannons on the ships sides.

"I'm amazed this ship has loading belts. That's usually on bigger ships. Do you know how to load these?" Z said as he started taking out the missiles in the cases.

"This ship was one of the best in it's days, and yes I do know how to load the belts. My sister showed me how." Ral replied as he lay down the missiles longways as the belt locked the missiles in place with clamps. As he worked on the left side while Z loaded the right. There was a flashing red light over them to signal the loading process as the two worked at a quick pace.

()()()()()()()

Back in the captains deck, Leadonus looked at the monitor as the digital display showed the loading time through the four rows of ten cannons on each side of the ship. The compartments where the cannons were opened as they automatically locked and loaded as the missiles filled in on the belts, waiting to be fired.

()()()()()()()()

Back in the engine room. "Deotalus, I need you up here with me. I need you to operate the cannons controls." Leadonus called over the com.

"Okay, I'll be up in a minute." Deo replied into the com. "Jeremie, I need to get topside and help Lea. You gonna be okay with the engine?" Deo asked him.

"I'll be fine, the engines are working right now, but I'll keep up with the repairs." Jeremie replied as he worked on another part of the engine.

"Thanks, and I'll send Aelita down to help. I have a feeling it's gonna be a long day." Deo said as he ran out the engine room and up to the deck. "Aelita, help Jeremie with the engines. You'll be safe down there." Deo called out to her. Aelita nodded and ran down into the engine room with Jeremie to help him out. Deotalus then got into the captains deck with Leadonus and took a seat at the weapons control terminal and began to get the cannons ready.

"So what's the plan Lea?" Deotalus asked.

"We'll slow down and make it look like we're having engine problems. Then we'll circle around and give them hell and death." Leadonus said as he gripped the large wheel tighter as he began their plan.

The enemy ship got closer as Lea slowed his ship more. "Hold on everybody." Lea shouted into the com for everyone to hear as he turned the wheel, cutting in front of the enemy ship. The pirate ship stopped, the pirate crew shouted at them as the missile they fired miss the Aqulsa Harbaq. Leadonus then got within forty feet of the enemy ship's side going in the opposite direction. "Deo, ready cannons row one and two. We don't need to fire all of them." Leadonus ordered.

"Ready to fire when you are." Deotalus said as he calculated the shots through the computer while lining up the shots through the camera monitors.

"Wait for it..." Lea said as the ships paths got closer. "Hold..." The ships were almost lined up as the enemy ship turned it's front deck cannon at them. "Hold..." Lea said again.

"Any day now Leadonus!" Deotalus shouted. The gang on deck braced themselves as the enemy ship got ready to attack.

"Fire!" Leadonus shouted. The sound of the Aqulsa Harbaq's cannons being fired again in a long time as the missiles tore into the hull. The enemy crew either being killed right away or flying off the ship from the force of the explosion as the enemy ship took too much damage and began to slowly sink into the ocean, leaving the crew to they're demise. The gang on board cheered as the enemy ship was finally off their tail. "Excellent shot Deotalus. They'll think twice before attacking us again." Leadonus said as he continued to sail the ship.

"Well we couldn't have done it without you Lea, your skills as a captain saved us all." Deotalus replied as he finished tuning the cannon system.

()()()()()()()

Ralfaius and Z came back on deck to join the rest of the gang in they're victory. "Hey you two, you missed the fun." Odd said to them.

"We just got done loading all the missiles, even if we only have a few hundred rounds." Ralfaius said to them.

"We also loaded the guns and the other gun turrets. Although it looks like we wont be needing them." Z added.

"You may want to rethink that." Ulrich said as they all looked out into the distance.

()()()()()()()()

"Lea, do you see what I see? We got three dozen ships heading our way!" Deotalus said as he looked out into the ocean.

"I see them Deo. I knew this was too easy." Lea replied. The first dozen of ships were smaller then their ship with only a few crew members on each with small weapons and cannons. The ships were also meant to be fast and make quick getaways. The second dozen of ships we're around the Aqulsa Harbaq's size with cannons on the middle of the ships. The first six of the third dozen were long with wide open decks and only a few cannons and guns, the other five were a lot like the second dozen but with a few more cannons, and the last ship was larger then all the others. It was obviously the lead ship, and it looked more rugged and has definitely seen action.

()()()()()()()()

On the lead ship in the captains deck. An Aquamarin was at the helm steering the ship. He looked way past middle aged and with a long scar on his right cheek and chin with dreads that went down to his mid-back. "I finally have that damn ship in my sights. They will pay for what their family did to mine." The Aquamarin captain said with his right eye twitching.

"Just remember, I need to get some information out of the brothers before you kill them. Until then, damage their ship, then let me deal with them. Then you can do what you wish." A man said to him as he walked up next to the captain. It was the man in the black raincoat from last night that cut the boats posts. He removed his hood to show that he too was an Aquamarin with a very young look and with only four large dreads.

"What is it that they know, that you could possibly need?" The Aquamarin captain asked.

"Don't worry about it, and it's not me that needs it. It's my master who needs it. So just do your job while me and my men that I brought will take care of the rest." The hooded Aquamarin said.

"Fine..." He replied as he reached for the com line. "First wave! Damage the Aqulsa Harbaq, but don't sink it." He yelled into the com to the first wave of small ships as they began their assault.

()()()()()()()()

Back at the Aqulsa Harbaq. "Looks like we got a long day ahead of us... Good!" Knulgen said with a smile as he unsheathed his sword.

"Hang on guys. I need to do something in my room first." Ralfaius said to them as he ran off below deck and to his room before anybody could say anything to him.

"What the hell is he doing?" Aracane asked curiously at Ral's sudden action.

"I think I know..." Miodelus said with a smile.

"Never mind that right now, we need to get ready for battle." kairaree said as she pulled out her main dagger and chain weapon from her satchel.

()()()()()()()()()

Back in the captains deck. "We need to get in touch with uncle Garous. Try hailing him over the radio. If we're lucky, he and his crew might be on patrol in this area." Leadonus said as he began to steer the ship towards the enemy wave.

"Got ya bro." Deo replied as he went to the radio com. "This is the Aqulsa Harbaq, calling The Drifter, come in uncle Garous, this is Deotalus. We are under attack, please come in. I am turning on our position locator. I just hope you get this soon." Deo said into the com before putting it up. "I did all I could Lea, we can only hope he gets to us soon." Deo said to his brother.

"Until then, we need to fight these people off. Let's show them what the Aqulsa Harbaq can do!" Leadonus said as he put the ship in full gear, charging at the small ships.

The battle was on. The Aqulsa Harbaq sailed right in the middle of the small enemy ships, Lea sailed the ship right in the middle of two of small ships. "Open fire!" Leadonus shouted as Deotalus fired the cannons again, this time on both sides. The missiles tore the small ships like they were toys as they began to sink. The enemy ships fired back as the gang took cover from the attacks, but the inferior weapons and cannons couldn't make any damage to the ships hull or even get over to the deck.

"Hang on everybody, I'm gonna ram a few of them." Leadonus said over the open com to them. Lea turned the wheel hard to use the ship to cut off some of the ships to get to the back rows. He then kicked it into high gear with some of the enemy ships in sight. The enemy ships were unable to get out of the way in time. The first ship they rammed was dead center of the small ships left side with the sound of metal breaking and twisting and the crew screaming and falling into the water rang out as the gang held on from the force of the front part of the Aqulsa Harbaq destroying the enemy ship. Leadonus then turned slightly to ram into another ships right side as it scraped against it with sparks flying off the front ram and the small ships side, making it roll on it's side into the water. Another ship down. Leadonus speed up even more and had another ship in site.

It tried to maneuver out of the way but Lea turned in time and caught the front end of the enemy ship with there ships ram, making it crumble a little like a can until it finally capsized and roll under the Aqulsa Harbaq. The last ship that was in their path kicked up speed but it was too late. The gangs ship caught the back end destroying the propeller, leaving the ship dead in the water as the huge hole it made filled with water and sunk, leaving only a few small ships left.

"We're half-way down on the small ships, and I hate to waste the missiles on them but we can't turn in time to ram them again." Deotalus said to Lea as he redyed the cannons.

"We need to get the guns on them." Leadonus said as he turned to the final small ships lining up their shots at the gang and their ship.

()()()()()()()

"I'm on it guys." Z's voice came in over the intercom. "I'm in the gun room. I'm activating the turrets right now." Z said as he took a seat in a large chair with trigger handles and a monitor in front of him. He flipped a few switches and turned on the system. Back on deck in the center of the ship a platform that was a few feet above the deck level open up to reveal a large twin barrel cannon with two smaller barrels on each side of the gun turret. On another part of the ship near the front, two cannons came up from their compartments and stood ready to fire. The missiles in them are a smaller caliber for attacking smaller ships and crews on larger ships. Near the captains deck two more cannons came on line as well with small turrets under the cannon barrels. Finally on the back of the ship, four missile launchers came up from their hidden compartments with their missiles at the ready.

"Ready when you are Leadonus." Z said as he ready the turrets from his seat. Leadonus picked up the speed and headed for the six final small ships and made a sharp turn facing the final enemy ships sideways. Z then grabbed the trigger handles and opened fire. The thunderous sound of the bullets firing from the guns as they hit the ships one by one, filling the ships and crews with big holes as the clicking sound of the large empty bulletcases fell into the brass catchers that went into the waste bins in the very bottom of the ships hold for recycling.

()()()()()()()

"I'm really glad we have those shell catchers for recycling. There's even a system for the shells of the missiles to roll into their own bins too." Deotalus said as he controlled the cannons that were near the captains deck.

"Let's just hope we will be able to recycle those shells after this fight." Leadonus replied as he steadied the ship to make sure every shot count. Finally the small ships were gone, sinking slowly into the water as those who managed to survive only to be left to a watery grave from drowning. William looked over the rail to the floating dead as oil and blood filled the water. As tough as he was, he couldn't help feel a little sick of the carnage that floated before them.

"I know it's hard to see, but this is the true face of battle." Bel'la said as she walked over to look.

"Let's not get comfortable, we still got two dozen more ships to handle." Eli'ton said as he pulled out a metal plating and connected it to the back of his armor at the back of his neck. Suddenly the plating moved as it folded out in the form of a helmet with a visor for the eyes and a filter like part where the mouth was. The helmet was simple in design but still just as good as the rest of his armor. Everyone except his sister looked in surprise to the new addition to his armor. "Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you I have a helmet with my armor too." Eli'ton said almost as if he was embarrassed.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back on the enemy's main ship. "Godsdammit!" The Aquamarin captain yelled furiously as he threw his binoculars down, shattering them and startling a few of his men inside. "Those were some of the best in my fleet and they sunk them like they were toys!" He roared as he broke one of the metal handles of his steering wheel.

"Just do your part and my master will pay you enough to hire a thousand ships and ten-thousand men." The raincoat wearing Aquamairn said, not caring about the fallen crew and ships.

"What are you planing? It doesn't involve sinking more of my ships, does it?" The captain asked with anger.

"Just watch and wait." The raincoat wearing man said as he took the radio line to talk into it. "Attention captain of the Aqulsa Harbaq. Do you read me?" He said into the mic.

()()()()()()()()

On the gangs ship in the captains deck, the mans voice came in over their radio. Leadonus grabbed the mic and talked into it. "Hello, who is this? What do you want?" Leadonus said cautiously.

"My name is Bargalma, you may know me, for I am the one who sent you adrift into the sea." Bargalma said in a almost mocking tone.

"You bastard! What do you want with us?" Leadonus replied as Deotalus turned on the open mic for the everyone on board to hear in case there was something they all needed to hear.

"It's simple, I know what your dear big sister is looking for. The problem is I don't know where she is. So I simply request is that you tell me where she is, and I will let you and your brothers and friends go. We'll even overlook the fact that you sunk and killed our ships and men. All will be forgiven and we will sail away from you, never to be seen again." Bargalma negotiated.

"Wow, that's a really generous offer. But the problem is, we don't know where she is. We haven't talked or seen her in over four years, and even if we did, we wouldn't tell you. So you can take your offer and jump off board." Leadonus replied.

Bargalma chuckled a little from Lea's rebuttal before replying. "That's quite a mouth you got on you boy, maybe I should kill your brothers in front of you before I kill you. I know the captain here would love that. You might know him too, his name is Oarsalo. He competed with your father a long time ago." Bargalma said to him.

"Yeah, our sister Taleius told us about him and his war crimes across the fourteen seas. Our father had his rank and title stripped from him. But if I had it my way, I would have him looked up for the rest of his life." Leadonus replied. Oarsalo overheard him and growled from his remark.

"That is true about him and trust me, he is not very happy about it either. So in the end, you kids are gonna die, and I'll send your heads to your sister if I ever find her too. It's a shame that we couldn't come to a deal kid." Bargalma said disappointed.

"Some how I have a feeling that we would get the raw end of the deal no matter what. Thank you for your time and have a lovely day before we sink you." Leadonus said before finally cutting him off.

()()()()()()()

"No more games, let's kill them and be done with it. All ships attack now!" Oarsalo yelled into the com, alerting the rest of his ships as Bargalma just took a seat and waited for the next steps in his plan.

()()()()()()()

"Looks like we're in the thick of it Deotalus. I just hope I can get us through it." Leadonus said to him.

"We're with you all the way, and so are our new friends." Deotalus replied as he looked out to see their new friends get ready for battle.

"I guess we will be joining them when this battles over. I just hope Ralfaius and Miodelus are on board as well." Leadonus chuckled.

"Somehow I think they'll be with us as well. Especially Mio. Now let's send these pirates to Porsailan's judgment." Deotalus said as he took his seat at the cannons again.

()()()()()()()()()

Back on deck."Looks like we're sticking this out until the end guys. For the honor of the Surfane family and the honor of the Aqulsa Harbaq!" Miodelus cheered as he pulled out his nun-chucks and twirled them around.

"Well somebody's excited for a fight. Maybe there's hope for you yet, little bro." Ralfaius said as he came back on board with the rest.

"Where the fuck were you anyway? What if we needed your help up here?" Aracane asked with anger.

"I was securing something down okay. Besides, nothing has happened yet." Ralfaius replied hiding something from them.

"Enemy ships coming our way guys. Prepare for battle" Leadonus said over the com.

The second wave of enemy ships that was the same size as theirs sailed towards them, and the gang returned the favor as their ship kicked back in high gear while Z laid down suppressive fire from the guns to break up the enemy's formation, forcing them to split in half. They blasted they're cannons at the Aqulsa Harbaq, but Lea managed to dodge in time between fires, hitting only the water. Finally they caught two ships off guard and got in between them. "Fire all cannons!" Leadonus commanded as another barrage of missiles tore into the enemy ships, killing most of the crew on deck. Suddenly a huge explosion burst from the middle of the ships insides, making the gang take cover as their ship sailed past leaving the first two ships to sink.

"What was that explosion? My ears are ringing." Odd yelled as he got back up.

"We hit a ammo storage. That must have been every missile on the ships exploding." Ralfaius informed him.

Leadonus continued to sail their ship into the next wave of enemy ships. Z opened fire on the next ship with the turrets. He then came up with a quick idea as he aimed and open fire at the captains deck. He completely destroyed the entire deck killing the captain and anybody unfortunate enough to be there as the ships controls were destroyed, leaving it dead in the water. He then shot a few holes in the hull to make it sink slow as a final insult.

"Hey Leadonus, these ships are junk. They must have been salvaged and rebuilt with whatever they could get they're hands on." Z said into the mic to the captains deck.

"I noticed, their trying to use large numbers to tip the odds in their favor. Too bad they didn't know this ship was designed to fight multiple ships at once." Leadonus replied back. He then saw another vulnerable ship. "Hang on everyone, I'm going to ram another ship!" He said, alerting everyone on board. He put the ship in high gear again and made a heading for the next ship. It fired back at them but the missiles and bullets did little damage to the very front since it was built to take a pounding. Finally they rammed into the enemy ship sending enemy crew and equipment flying off. Leadonus then put it in reverse, leaving a huge gash and indent in the middle of the side for water to pour in the deck levels without anyway to stop it as the ship sunk.

"I don't know how much more I can take with this ramming." Yumi said as she got back up.

"Oh really Yumi? Are you sure about that? Because you look like you love that kind of thing." Knulgen said to her with a smile.

"And what does that mean Knulgen?!" Ulrich growled at him as he regained his balance. But he didn't have a chance to followup because the next three enemy ships got in line and began to open fire on them as everyone took cover again. The enemy's guns and missiles banged into the right side of the hull as Deo retracted the cannons to keep them safe while they tried to sail away, but the three enemy ships kept following them while firing.

Leadonus noticed that the three ships were in a perfect line and not to far apart from each other. He then saw the anchor docks near the front of the first enemy ship and got an idea. "Deo, take control of the small cal. missile turret near our deck and aim for the anchor controls near the front ship." Leadonus said to Deo.

"Ahh, I see what you mean. Don't worry I'm on it." Deotalus said as the genius figured out what he was up to and aimed at the cannon. He lined up the shot through the targeting system, and as soon as he had the shot, he fired a small missile at the control panels and Lea's plan sprang as the two anchors on both sides of the front unravel into the water.

After a few seconds the anchors snagged, making the front ship come to a very hard stop sending a number of the crew flying forward and even a few people fall off the decks and even some out the windows. But the final part of his plan that he was waiting for happened as the ship behind it crashed into it from the back with a horrible crashing noise since it was too close to the first ship and the next ship crashing into the second one right away, making the whole scene almost comical as the ships were finished as the crews on each ship were also flung from the impact, either hitting hard onto the deck, or into the water. The gang once again cheered at another brilliant strategy.

Only five more ships of the second wave remained and Leadonus wanted to finish this battle. He put the ship back in high gear. The other ships tried to retreat but they caught up with them in no time. Leadonus ordered the cannons to be fired again at the ship on the right, leaving it to sink. Then he fired the front cannons at the ship in front of them leaving it to sink too. They tried to fight back but Leadonus kept dodging their attacks until they got in between the ships and without saying a word, Deotalus open fire on the two ships, leaving only one left.

"Hey Leadonus, I got this one. Just pull up beside them." Z said into the com. As Leadonus began to pull up beside them, Z began to open fire. Slowly he put bullet holes into the hull and deck with the crews running and getting shot and torn to pieces as they did what some would call 'a sail by shooting' until they passed the ship filled with holes as it began to sink, finishing the last of the second wave.

()()()()()()()()()

Back on the enemy's lead ship. Oarsalo heaved with anger through gritted teeth as his second wave was finished, his eyes twitched while Bargalma just stood there without much care.

"Tell your other battleships to back off, well use the long decks to board them and finish them off that way. Bargalma said to him.

"But your men are on those ships. What makes you think they have a chance?" Captain Oarsalo asked gruffly.

"Well handle it, and you will still be paid for your time." Bargalma replied as he left the captains deck to head for the front deck. While Oarsalo hailed the other five warships to pull back. Bargalma used his own communicator to lead the six long ships to get along side the Aqulsa Harbaq to board them.

()()()()()()()()()

Leadonus saw the ships coming at them, but he cleverly turned just in time before they could cut them off and box them in. He then ordered Deo and Z to open fire with the cannons and guns on the right side, sinking one of the long ships. Lea then circled around the wreckage of the sinking ship and came behind the other enemy ship and open fire again on the left side of their ship, finishing off the next enemy ship. Leadonus then felt that something is wrong. "I don't get it? They should have tried to board us by now. Instead we're sinking them without any effort." Leadonus said as he began to make their next assault.

The next two enemy ships sailed right in their way. The first ship pulled right in front of them, forcing Leadonus to put the ship in reverse as a means to stop the ship. Then the next ship came up behind them. Both enemy ships blocked the Aqulsa Harbaq from the front and back making them unable to sail out or gain enough speed to effectively ram the front ship to do any damage. Z quickly turned the turrets to the front ship and begin to open fire but only doing little damage to its hull while Leadonus thought of a plan for the one behind them.

"Deotalus, I don't suppose you have a plan do you?" Leadonus asked as he clutched the wheel.

"I'm about to turn back on the rocket missiles on the back deck. But we might suffer heavy damage to the back deck." Deo replied as he aimed the missile launchers to the deck of the ship behind them.

"We'll have to take that chance, fire when ready." Leadonus said as he got ready to take off.

Deotalus nodded and continued to aim at the deck. He then fired the missiles off as they flew up and hit the deck and captains level, damaging it. Like Deotalus said, the back deck was damaged from the debris that fell on from the enemy deck, Leadonus then put the ship in reverse and hit hard against the enemy ship, forcing it to drift away from them, freeing them at last. Leadonus then turned the ship, having the right side cannons pointing at the ship that was in front of them. Deotalus then opened fire, damaging the hull leaving that to sink.

With the Aqulsa Harbaq damaged, Leadonus slowed the ship down to assess the damage but the last two long ships came up and got their ship in between them and before they could do anything, the enemy ships shot five cables from each of their ships, hooking the Aqulsa Harbaq and stopping it as the long ships stopped, holding them in their place.

"Dammit! This was they're plan the whole time. The other ships were just a distraction while they pulled up to catch us. That's why there wasn't very much crew members on board the other ships." Leadonus yelled.

**(A/N: Remember, they're different species, so use your imaginations)**

On the enemy ships, the main decks opened up to have two crane like systems come up with a number of cables unraveled as the enemy crew grabbed a line with a handle at the end and swung on board the Aqulsa Harbaq. They defiantly looked like modern pirates carrying various weapons but used their blades instead at first.

"It looks like they intend to take us alive, or at least kill us slowly." Leadonus said as he unfolded his scythe and left the captain deck.

"And it looks like I will have to fight too." Deotalus said to himself and took out his trident and joined the rest.

The enemy's surrounded the gang with their weapons at the ready. The pirates came after them but the gang fought back at the invading force. Ulrich knocked a pirates blade out of his hand with his sword and kicked the men into a few of them while Knulgen charged and sliced down three of them, spilling blood onto the deck while one of them fell into the ocean.

Bel'la and Eli'ton fought together as a few pirates surrounded them but with Bel'las staff-blade and Eli'tons arm-blades, they made quick work as she knocked their weapons out of they're hands, and even finished a few of them while her brother closed the gap and plunged his blades into them, splashing blood onto his armor and face plate.

Two pirates aimed their guns at some of the gang while they weren't looking. But before they could pull the triggers, Leadonus and Deotalus jumped from the top deck, driving their scythe and trident into their backs while landing on them to soften the landing and joined the rest of them.

Ralfaius fought them off with raging fury as he dodged and disarmed them with his sais before delivering the finishing blows. "Get off my ship you bastards!" He yelled before another group came after him.

But then Miodelus jumped in. He attacked them with his nun-chucks stunning them. He then unsheathed the blades and held both handles of his dual nun-chucks as he stabbed them one by one before they even hit the deck. "Hey Ral, I saved you, I saved you." Mio said in a cheery tone as another pirate came after him. But before the pirate reached him, Ralfaius threw one of his sais right into the mans neck, killing him. Mio looked behind him and saw the man while Ralfaius looked at Miodelus with a blank look before coming to get his sai back. "Well I guess we're even now." Mio chuckled.

The fight continued as another group of pirates landed on the rail deck, catching the gang off guard as they aimed their assault rifles at them. But before they could fire, the sound of another assault rifle caught the pirates off guard as Z came up behind and shot them down one by one before they could even fully turn around as Z finished them off before rejoining his friends.

"Glad to see you made it." Kairaree said as another pirate with a LMG began to swing towards them from the enemy ship. But she threw her chain weapons heavy end at him, hitting him in the face and making him let go of the line and landing on his back over the rail. Everyone heard a cracking noise before he fell into the ocean and dropping the LMG on deck while Z came over to take it.

"Thank Kairaree, this will come in handy." Z said as he looked over the weapon.

While they waited for the next assault, a human pirate sneaked below deck and into the engine room to sabotage the ship. He walked in with his blade out as he looked around. He then saw Aelita working in a corner on one of the engines. He made his way to her with his blade held high to strike her. Aelita turned around and gasped as he swung at her while rolling under his blade hitting the body of the engine. She tried to run away but he grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards him, but she hit him in the face and grabbed the top of his dull shirt as she struggled against his grip. She managed to kick away and ripped the top of his shirt. She turned around and gasped as she saw a very familiar mark that was tattooed to his chest.

"Xana's eye, you are with Xana?" Aelita asked shocked.

"How do you know of lord Xana? It doesn't matter, you and all your friends will die anyway." He yelled as he raised his blade while Aelita instinctively raised her arms in defense.

CLONK!

Aelita lowered her arms as the man fell to the floor to see Jeremie behind him with a big wrench. "That was close, I didn't think I would be able to knock him out. Aelita are you okay?" Jeremie asked as Aelita then ran up to him and hugged him.

"I am now, thank you Jeremie." She said with a smile while hugging him tight.

"I-i-it was no problem." He replied while trying to hide his blushing. He then gently broke the hug and cleared his throat. "So did I hear you right? This man has Xana's eye on him?" Jeremie asked as he turned the guy over to see Xana's mark. "They must work with him or something, we need to warn the others." Jeremie said shocked.

"I'll tell them, you two lock the door while I get rid of him." Aracane's voice caught their attention as he stood at the metal door.

"Aracane, you heard what we said?" Aelita asked him, surprised by his sudden appearance.

"Yeah, looks like there's more to this then we thought with those Surfane brothers and their sister." Aracane said as he picked the man up and put him over his shoulder and began to leave the room. "Just stay here and we'll take care of the rest." Aracane said as he left the room while Jeremie locked it behind him.

"Just take care guys, and be careful." Jeremie said as he secured the metal door with it's heavy locks.

()()()()()()()()()

Aracane made his way back on deck and rejoined the group as they came up with a plan to cut the lines of the enemy ships. "Guys, this guy tried to sneak into the engine room and attack Jeremie and Aelita." Aracane said to them while still carrying the pirate.

"Are they all right? Did he hurt them?" Yumi asked worried about the two.

"They're fine, but look what this man has on his chest." Aracane replied as he threw him onto the deck floor to show them all the Xana symbol. They all gasped as they all looked at the eye on his chest.

"He must work with Xana because this can't possibly be him." Ulrich said observing the symbol close.

"So then Xana has followers, but what does this have to do with attacking us and looking for our sister?" Deotalus asked, even though he knew no one know the answer.

"Now that I think about it. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Xana's men that attacked our allies clan all those years ago too." Bel'la added as the memory came back to her.

"Do you think it's possible that Xana has caused a number of attacks throughout the years?" Kairaree asked as she thought about how she lost here parents from some unknown attackers.

"But what could our sister have that they are looking for?" Leadonus also asked.

"Why don't you ask our leader Bargalma, he's the one who's in charge." The gang looked down to see the man regaining his conciseness. But before he could move, Leadonus put the blade of his scythe against his throat to keep him on the floor.

"What do you mean ask your leader? What does he know about our sister?" Leadonus demanded holding the blade close.

"Our leader is the one who's in charge of this attack. He brought his own squadron of men onto these ships to defeat you Surfane boys, but I guess he didn't know about your friends. But it doesn't matter, he'll finish you all off before you know it. He over on the main ship, if your lucky, he will end your lives quick as he sinks your pathetic ship." The pirate laughed like crazy as Lea pulled his scythe away and Aracane picked him up roughly and dragged him to the rails.

"Time for you to go for a swim pal." Aracane said as he headbutted him hard and threw him off the deck and into the ocean.

No sooner had Aracane thrown the man into the water, a number of more pirates began to swing in. but Z quickly aimed the LMG at them and open fire as they either fell to the deck dead, or into the water to die. One of the pirates that landed on the deck had a grenade launcher with a belt around his waist. Z saw the grenade launcher and got an idea. "Lea, Deo, get back to the captains deck and get ready to take off and fire the cannons." Z said as he took the launcher and ammo belt off the pirate.

"What are you going to do?" Leadonus asked as Z checked the grenade launcher.

"I'm going to climb to the very top of the roof and blow up the harpoon turrets to cut the ship loose from them. As soon as the cables are cut, you take off and fire the cannons to sink these bastards once and for all." Z said as he began to make his way to the top deck and it's roof with Lea and Deo following him and heading back to the captains deck.

Another wave of pirates swung in and landed on deck ready for another assault. "Looks like we'll keep these assholes at bay while they free us." Aracane said with his ax ready.

"Then let's get their asses off this ship." Knulgen said as he and Aracane charged at the pirates, taking them down with ease.

Z climbed to the top roof and looked for his targets. The launcher had eight in each tube with ten on the belt, plenty of ammo to get them loose and do some damage on deck. He aimed to the right and started with the farthest harpoon turret and fired. The grenade launcher fired with it's funny noise as the grenade hit the turret blowing it up, killing and injuring anyone that was near. He then made his way down the rows until he finally blew up the five lines and fired the last three rounds onto the deck and quickly reloaded and fired another round to the captains deck through the window, killing the captain and anyone inside.

He then turn to the ship on the left and began to fire at the other turrets. The enemy pirates tried to fight back but the grenades blew them down and into the water. Z then fired the last two grenades at a group of pirates that had RPG's before they could fire. He then loaded the last four grenades and fired blindly until he aimed the last grenade at the other captains deck and fired into it and finished that captain off to. "What kind of idiot carry's an uneven number of ammo around?" Z said to himself as he slide off the roof and in front of the windows to the captains deck. "Go now!" Z yelled to Leadonus.

Leadonus nodded and hit the ship in high gear and Deotalus fired the cannons as they tore into the ships hulls, finally finishing the first six ships of the third wave. The gang on deck finally got ride of the pirates on deck, either by killing them which most of the Earthera born members did or had them thrown off deck into the water.

"No that we are finally free, we need to attack the lead ship and get some answers from this Bargalma, one way or another" Leadonus said as he began to sail towards the lead ship in the distance.

"I just hope we can get some answers out of him. That ship is massive and filled with cannons, and we are almost out of ammo in both the cannons and guns." Deotalus said as he checked the monitors to see how much ammo they have left in all.

"We'll get in the ships blind spot and board the flagship that way, and we will take out Oarsalo and get some answers once and for all from Bargalma. And maybe even find out more about Xana for our new friends." Lea replied with a plan.

"We're with you all the way bro." Miodelus yelled up to the captains deck since everyone on deck heard him through the open com system that was still on while the others agreed as well.

"Same here." Z said from outside the captains deck, leaning against the window with his assault rifle ready.

"Then it's settled, prepare yourself everyone, we're taking out Oarsalo and his pirates once and for all!" Leadonus yelled with pride as he put the ship in full speed, despite it's damaged state and headed towards the main enemy ship.

As they sailed towards Oarsalo's ship, dark clouds began to slowly roll in from the distance as the sound of thunder could be heard from afar. The gang on board the Aqulsa Harbaq prepared for the next battle ahead of them. The Surfane brothers hope to find out more about their sister Taleius. And what she has involved with whatever she is looking for, and why Xana and men are looking for her.

**END CHAPTER.**


	16. THE BATTLE OF THE CAPTAINS

**CHAPTER 16: THE BATTLE OF THE CAPTAINS**

The main enemy ship continued to fire as the Aqulsa Harbaq sailed closer and closer and dodged the cannon fire as the storm clouds began to roll in. "So Leadonus, what's the plan? I don't think our cannons could take that ship down." Deotalus said as he held on to his seat from Lea's erratic sailing.

"We'll get along side it in it's blind-spot. Then we will board the ship while our friends hold down the ship and keep the enemy off. This is our fight, we don't need to get our new friends involved anymore then they are now." Leadonus replied as he dodged another shell.

"You do know there will be a number of them on board, armed with all kinds of firearms and so on, right Leadonus?" Deo asked his brother.

"Just remember what our sister taught us and we will be fine. They may fight with modern weapons, but that doesn't mean it's always better. As long as we stick together, there is nothing the Surfane family can't do." Leadonus said with pride as he put the ship in high gear. Finally they pulled up to the massive ships side. The ship was over twice the height of they're ship and three times as long. There was a lower ramp built into the side in case the ship needs to be abandoned. As the guns fell silent since their ship was in they're blind-spot and could not hope to hit them anymore.

"Wow, this ship is huge. How are we gonna get up there?" Miodelus asked as he looked at the ship.

"We need to anchor ourselves to the ship so we can get back on when this is over." Ralfaius said as he looked up to the deck while Leadonus and Deotalus came down to the deck with the rest of their brothers and the gang.

"Here's the plan. We're gonna go up there and settle this once and for all. You guys stay here and keep the rats at bay until we're done." Leadonus said as he went over the plan with everybody.

"You guys can't do this all on your own. They may be waiting for up there to mow you down with they're guns." Z pointed out to the four.

"Trust us, captain Oarsalo will want to settle this by his hands. He hates our entire family with every inch of his being. So we will take him on, and if anything happens to us, you guys get out of here as fast as you can." Deotalus said to the others.

"But first, how are we going to get up there? It's not like they're gonna roll down the ladder for us. Maybe we can-" Before Ralfaius could finish, Z used his assault rifle to shoot the locks on the ladder of the enemy ships lower deck and the ladder came down to their level.

"You're welcome." Z simply said as he loaded another clip.

"We still need to keep ourselves attached to their ship before we go up there." Deo replied.

"I think I have an idea." Aracane said as he grabbed one of the severed posts with the chain still attached to it. He picked it up with ease and with all his might, threw it up to the lower deck and over the rail, securing them as he threw another one and another one and one more.

"Nice arm, Aracane." Eli'ton praised with his helmet still on.

"Alright guys, let's do this." Leadonus said as he began to climb the ladder first, followed by Deotalus then Ralfaius and finally Miodelus, leaving the gang on board waiting for a possible attack. The brothers climbed to the lower deck and took a quick look around to make sure there wasn't an ambush waiting for them. They then made their way to the top deck's stairways while taking cover behind crates and anything else in case they were attacked as they moved from position to position. Finally they made it to the stairs and walked up with they're weapons ready. Lea's scythe held in a striking position, Deo's trident ready to thrust, Ral's sais held in a downward position with the handles between his fingers, and Mio twirling his nun-chucks.

They got up deck in the center with no one in sight. The brothers took a position facing every direction in case the enemy's were on deck. "So... where is everyone?" Deotalus asked.

"They're here. We just need to find them." Leadonus replied as he looked around.

"Then look no farther!" A voice called out as the brothers look up to the captains deck to see Oarsalo leaning against the rail. "Finally, after all this time. I will have my revenge on the Surfane family. And there is nothing you can do to stop me." Oarsalo said with malice in is voice.

"Oh yeah! You and what army?" Miodelus asked boldly. Then as if on cue, Oarsalo's men came charging out from the decks and surrounded the brothers. They were armed with blades, axes, chains, and knifes. Obviously Oarsalo wanted them to die slow and painfully. They all surrounded them as they snickered and laughed at the brothers. "Oops..." Mio said while Ral slapped him upside the head.

"Do what you wish with these fools and kill the rest on they're pitiful dingy of a ship!" Oarsalo ordered as the men cheered. Some of them ran to the side where the Aqulsa Harbaq was under and threw a number of ropes down to where they're friends were.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Oh shit! Here they come!" Eli'ton said as he pointed to the men repelling down to they're deck level. The gang spread out as they landed with their weapons ready.

"Fuck yeah! Now the fun begins!" Knulgen said as he drew his sword. The enemy's charged at them in small waves because they could only climb down a few at a time. Knulgen took the first charge as he sliced a few down in only one swing and sliced down some more that tried to attack him from behind.

Kairaree threw her chain and wrapped it around a pirates neck and pulled him to her where he met his end by the blade of her chains bladed side across his neck. She then whipped it off his neck and swung it to another one that was coming at her and hit him with the heavy end and knocked him off deck. She then put the weapon back in her satchel and pulled out her main dagger and another dagger and fought off a few more, killing them with ease.

Aracane fought off his quarry without effort. One by one he struck them down with his ax as they charged him. Their little boarding axes inferior to his war ax. He even grabbed and threw several off the ship as the pirates continued to try and take down the heavy hitter of the gang.

Z cornered the armed men as he shot them down with his assault rifle to keep them away from the others until he was finally out of ammo and tossed the weapon. He then pulled out his duel handguns that belonged to his parents and with perfect precision, hit his marks with fatal accuracy. He even dropped some as they repelled down the lines.

Bel'la and Eli'ton worked together in perfect sync as she used her staff-blade to fend them off them and delivered fatal blows with her weapon while Eli used his arm blades to finish them as well. The pirates tried to use their weapons to hack at him, but his armor didn't even get scratched as he took them down.

William used his massive blade to keep the pirates away as he swung with the blunt side of his sword and punched and kicked them to the ground whenever he could.

Odd used his claws to disarm the men while Sam struck them with her blunt tonfa's which to her surprise, was better with them then she thought.

Ulrich did well too as he used his swords to strike they're weapons out of their hands. He even cut they're blades in half as they ran away from him in fear of how sharp his swords are.

Yumi was farther away from the group as she had one of her fan-blades in her left hand and her short sword in the other. A human pirate jumped down and almost landed on her, but she rolled out of the way in time as his machete hit the deck. He then took several swings at her until Yumi was far away enough to throw her fan-blade at him, but he knocked it away with his machete as she quickly charged at him and elbowed him down. But he rolled and got back on his feet. Yumi then pulled out her fan-shield in place of her fan and charged after the man again and used her shield to knock his weapon out of his hand and tackle him to the ground. They fell to the ground, but she managed to roll on top of him and raised her short sword up over his head as she paused.

"What is this?" The man asked with a smirk while Yumi's hand trembled. "Listen little girl. If your gonna carry a weapon, you need to be prepared to use it." He said as he grabbed her wrist and pulled it down until her short swords blade was at his throat. She tried to pull away but his grip was too strong for her to break. "Well? Come on, do it! Do it now little girl! Show me what a real fighter you are. Show me you have what it takes to do what you need to live. Show me that you can be a stone cold killer!" The pirate dared as he pulled her blade closer, making a little bit of blood trickle from his neck while Yumi's hand trembled even more. "Pathetic. This is what happens when you hesitate. You die!" He said as he let go of her wrist and pulled out a gun and pointed it at her head with a cruel smile.

Yumi had a gun aimed at her head as the man pushed her back and stood up as he cocked the hammer. "You know what the problem is with hesitating? You never get a chance to learn from it when it's life or death." He said as he began to pull the trigger.

BANG!

The man fell to the ground and Yumi looked up to see Z standing behind the now dead pirate with smoke hissing from his gun. "As much as I hate to say it Yumi. He is right. You never get to learn from hesitating when it's life or death." Z said as he walk ed away to handle another armed group as they repelled down. Yumi didn't even say a word as she got back up and went back to continue fighting with her friends.

()()()()()()()()()()()

"No you bastard. Leave them alone, they have nothing to do with this!" Leadonus yelled to Oarsalo.

"Too bad boy, you should have never brought them on aboard your ship in the first place. Now get them men!" Oarsalo ordered as several charged at them. The brothers knew they had to fight as the pirates came after them in full force with their weapons ready for the kill. The brothers then split up so they don't get pushed together. They split off into three different directions except for Miodelus, who didn't get what they were doing at first until the pirates came after him. He made a quick scream and ran off, soon to have his own fight.

Deotalus ran to the east side of the main deck as several pirates surrounded him. They stood around him as he held his trident at the ready. The one in front of him was the first to attack as the pirate attacked with his machete, but Deo then caught it with his trident and twisted it out of his hand while another one came at him from behind, but Deo used the heavy end of the bottom of his staff and struck the man hard in the stomach before he could get close, making him hit the ground hard while clutching his stomach in pain. The next two came at him at the same time but Deotalus spun his trident, hitting one in the face hard with the heavy end of his trident, leaving a fatal blow while stabbing the other one right in the chest with the trident head, killing him. Deo then used the tridents bottom to pole-vault himself into a pirate who fell into a small group behind him as Deo continued to strike down pirate after pirate with his tridents sharp head and painfully devastating heavy end of the staff.

Ralfaius lead a group of pirates away from the others as he got near the bow. He then turned around and charged into a few of them, knocking the pirates to the ground. He then backed away and pulled out his sais and twirled the rings that were near the guards of the sais before he held them, ready to fight. One pirate came at him with a short sword but Ral used both his sais and caught them between the prongs of his weapons and used them to pull the blade out of his hands and stabbed him in the chest with one of his sais, making it a fatal blow. Two more came after him but Ral flipped his sais into a downward position as he caught the first ones hatchet and the other ones machete and disarmed them both and delivered fatal cuts to them with the sais. He then charged at another one and got in front of him and blocked the pirates large knife and put the man in a locked position and kneed him in the face a few times before pulling him over to the rail and throwing him overboard into the ocean. Another one tried to come at him with a machete but Ralfaius caught the weapon and slit him across the throat. He continued with his techniques as more still came after him.

Miodelus was the least experienced in combat, but he knew he needed to step up. As the pirates chased him, Mio suddenly stopped and used his nun-chucks and struck them right in their knees, making them trip and hit the ground hard as more came up on him. Mio twirled his chucks around as they began to surround him. Miodelus then grabbed the handles and made the hidden blades spring out and began to twirl them in a fighting stance. One pirate came after him as he ducked under his weapon and struck him in the side of his chest as he was cut by the nun-chucks hidden blade, leaving a deep gash. The next one tried to make a dive at him, but Mio grabbed the one handle with the blade out and stabbed him in the chest killing him. Another pirate tried to charge him but Mio rolled under him then jumped up and stabbed the pirate in the back with both blades. Mio then made the other blades spring out as he held both handles of each of his nun-chucks, ready for the next assault. One came after him with a blade, but Mio made a quick move as he caught the blade by the chain of his nun-chucks and flipped the blade away then stabbed him in the chest with both blades of the other pair of nun-chucks. After the pirate was down, more made they're way to him as he knew this was going to be a long fight ahead of his brothers.

Finally the storm began to come in as thunder struck throughout the sea, and rain began to lightly pore. Leadonus had the most pirates surrounding him as he held his scythe in his usual position, ready for their attack. The pirates stood around him with their weapons ready for the kill. Minutes seemed to pass as the pirates stand around him. Lea tightened the grip of his handle, ready for the coming battle. The first circle of pirates charged at him, he swung his scythe around in a perfect circle as they were all killed in one sweep, the last one to be killed had his head cut clean off. Another wave came at him as he quickly swung the staff and drive the scythe into the gut of another pirate killing him very painfully. Three more came after him as he swung his staff and cut right into another pirate while using the under side of the blade and pulled one towards him, leaving a fatal wound on him as he flung him into the other pirate. Several more came after him, but thanks to his scythe, he cut them down in one swing after another as they failed to get close enough to even try and hit him as the pirates died at his scythe.

Oarsalo had enough as his men pathetically failed to take them down. He went back into his captains deck to retrieve something. Leadonus took down another pirate then took his stance again as blood dripped down from the tip and prepared for another wave. "Enough of this!" Oarsalo yelled out as Leadonus and the pirates looked up to the walkway to him. As he walked down to they're deck level, Leadonus noticed to his shock that Oarsalo also had a scythe. It was black with the the blades jagged and rough with tattered sail like cloth at the back part of the scythe blade near the staff. "Stand back men, this ends at my hands now." Oarsalo ordered as his men backed as far as they could as Oarsalo stood a few feet from Leadonus with his scythe ready.

"So now your ready to fight me? Isn't your men dying at our feet enough for you?" Leadonus sneered as he ready his scythe as well. The two captains starred each other down as they held their scythes ready. The rain drizzled down on them as they waited for each others attack. After what seemed like forever, they both charged at each other, and when they got close enough, they swung they're scythes and the clash caused the blades of their scythes to interlock as they tugged at each other with their handles. Finally they dislodged from each other and swung away.

"Your good boy, just like your father. If only I had the pleasure to kill him instead of being lost in that battle." Oarsalo said as he took a stance.

"You wouldn't be worth his time anyway. And he and my mother may have been lost, but they went down with more honor then you will ever have!" Leadonus yelled as he charged after him and took some wild swings at him until Oarsalo swung, but Lea locked the blades just in time as he kicked the dishonored captain in the chest. As Oarsalo stumbled back, Leadonus swung again but Oarsalo blocked the blade with his staff as he twisted and tried to slash Lea across the chest, but Lea quickly jumped back as the blade nicked the edge of his coat. Oarsalo then took several downward swings at his legs, but Lea jumped back from each swing until Lea slammed the bottom of the staff to the deck and caught the blade just in time as Lea flicked the blade away and swung at Oarsalo's head but missed by only a few inches, only making a nick at his cheek. Oarsalo yelled in rage as he took wild swing at Lea while he did hisbest to block and counter while Oarsalo's men cheered they're captain on.

Finally Leadonus brothers scared off any remaining men that they were fighting and breathed a sigh of relief. Despite the fact that they were separated across the large ship, the brothers saw Leadonus and the captain that was after them fighting each other. So without saying anything, they ran down the deck to where Lea was. The pirates saw them but they backed off to let the brothers watch they're elder brother fight the crazed captain while knowing that if they tried to jump in, they would only get swarmed by the pirates and endanger Lea's life while the pirates kept they're distance from the other brothers.

The pirates continued to cheer while Leadonus struggled to fight captain Oarsalo as he stepped his techniques up with faster swings and counters at Lea. Finally Oarsalo raised his scythe up and in one down swing, brought his scythe down on the head of Leadonus's scythe, and the force caused the top of the staff part near the back where the blade was connected break right off as the wood and leather wrap splinter and the scythe blade landed on the deck with a metallic thud. All four of the brothers stood there in shock of Leadonus broken weapon as Oarsalo took another swing at him, but Lea ducked and rolled with the staff part still in hand. The other three tried to step in but the pirates got in they're way to hold them back.

"What are we gonna do bros? Lea needed our help." Miodelus asked his two other brothers.

"Well Mio, why don't you tell the bastard pirates in front of us, to get out of our way to help Leadonus." Ralfaius said as some of the pirates growled at him for his comment.

"There's nothing we can do right now. All we can hope is that Lea come's out of this okay." Deotalus said as they continued to watch their brother fight.

Oarsalo chased Lea around while doing all he could to defend himself with the broken staff. Oarsalo nicked Lea on the side of his neck before Lea fell down on his back and dropped the staff part as Oarsalo then tried to stab at him, but Lea rolled away from his attacks. Leadonus feared it was over as he was completely defenseless against the crazed captain who desired nothing more then his death. Suddenly Leadonus saw his scythe blade and made a dash for it. He grabbed what was left of the handle and blocked Oarsalo's blade just in time. Oarsalo was caught off guard from Lea regaining his blade, which Lea then ran at him holding the broken staff part and holding the under part of the blade with his other hand as he swinged away at Oarsalo with his blade, flowing with the swings as he got closer to Oarsalo.

"It doesn't matter how you use that blade boy, you can't stop me. I've been fighting with a scythe since I was a child, and I mastered it when I was around your age. You cant hope to defeat me!" Oarsalo said as he swung down on Leadonus, but Lea quickly raised his scythe blade up and blocked the scythe blade that was only a inch away from his face, causing the blade of his broken scythe to cut deeply into the palm of his right hand, winching from the pain.

"Let's see how much of a master you are." Leadonus replied as he pushed Oarsalo's blade away and with his bleeding hand, flung his blood right into the dishonored captains eyes, leaving him open as he yelled from the warm blood in his face. Leadonus knew he would never get a better chance as he charged at Oarsalo. Time seemed to slow down to him as he closed the gap, he turned his blade forward, holding the broken staff under his hand as he got close enough and ran his blade into Oarsalo's gut. Leadonus stood there with his scythe blade all the way through Oarsalo's stomach which poked out of his back as well. He coughed blood all over the deck as blood trickled down the scythe too.

"You... _'cough'_ that... _'cough'_ was a good tactic _'cough, cough_' I guess you're the master now boy _'cough'"_ Oarsalo said between coughs as the life slowly drained from him.

"No, I'm not a master yet. I just used what my sister taught us, she was a good teacher." Leadonus simply replied as he pulled the blade out and making a huge splatter of blood on the deck while Oarsalo fell to his knees.

"My only regret was that I never got to defeat your father in combat, even before I... was... dishonored... from... my... title..." Oarsalo's final words as he fell face forward to the deck as more blood pooled around his now lifeless body.

Leadonus had done it, he defeated one of the greatest scythe fighters around and put an end to his pirate legion. The remaining pirates stood there speechless as their captain lied there in the middle of the deck while the other three ran to Leadonus side, ready for any would be avengers. The pirates looked at them with anger as they closed in on them while the brothers held their weapons ready. Suddenly the sound of an assault rifle rang out in the air and caught everyone's attention. The Aquamarin Bargalma walked down the stairway with the now empty rifle and loaded a new magazine.

"Everyone, abandon this ship now!" Bargalma ordered.

One of the pirates stepped forward, pissed at the strangers command. "Hey asshole! You can't just order us to-" But the pirate never finished as Bargalma pointed his rifle at him, holding the gun with one hand and unloaded a few rounds into the pirate and a few others that were standing around him as they were killed from the blind fire.

"Anybody else got any objections?" Bargalma asked as he waved the rifle around. The pirates not wanting to push the man, ran to the lifeboats at the back of the ship and in a quick haste, fleed the ship and abandoning it to the Surfane brothers and the mysterious man known as Bargalma alone on the ship.

"Now that we have you alone, what do you want with our sister? And what is it she's looking for?" Leadonus demanded as he clutched his fingers over his bleeding palm to try stop the bleeding while holding the broken scythe blade in his other hand.

"Tell you what, if you kids can stop me, then I'll tell you. But first you need to survive," Bargalma said as he pointed the assault rifle at them. The brothers quickly split as Bargalma began to fire. He first fired away at Leadonus and Ralfaius while Miodelus and Deotalus ran in another direction. His magazine ran out and he loaded another quickly, then fired away at Deo and Mio. The brothers took cover behind some crates as Bargalma continued to fire. They were still split into two groups and far from each other, two on the left side of the deck and two on the right side with the sound of bullets hitting the crates.

"We got to do something, he seems to have a lot of ammo on him." Deotalus yelled over the gunfire.

"He may have a lot of ammo, but there's still four of us, we just need to draw his attention." Leadonus replied. He then noticed that the bullets stopped and that was when he came up with an idea. "Guys, I have an idea, follow my lead." Lea shouted as he jumped over the crates and charged after Bargalma while his other brothers hopped over the crates as well, knowing that Lea wanted them to split into four directions as Bargalma fired away at them with a new clip, firing a few rounds before switching to another and another as the rounds hit the deck, missing them only so slightly.

The brothers managed to surround him from very far away because they knew that if they were too close, he would be able to hit them with his rifle. The brothers stood around him and ready to fight. Bargalma looked around as he held his rifle. He then threw it to the ground ready for them to attack him directly. "Come on boys, show me what you got!" He dared them with a wicked smile.

Ralfaius threw both his sais at him, but he caught them both by the handle while Deotalus did a jump attack with his trident, but Bargalma blocked the trident head with the sais and disarmed him and kicked Deo away. Miodelus then came up and managed to knock the stolen weapons from his hands, but Bargalma then grabbed the other ends of the nun-chucks and pulled them out of Mio's hands. With his weapons taken from him, Mio then pulled out his three-section-staff and attacked Bargalma with his other weapon, but he swung the nun-chucks at Mio who quickly put his three-section-staff up in defense just in time as the chains of the nun-chucks wrapped around the chains of the middle section, making them tug at each others weapons to get loose. Leadonus then used that as an opportunity to attack as he swung his broken scythe, but Bargalma let go of the nun-chucks and rolled to grab the trident that was still on the deck while Lea took swings at him with the long scythe blade while Ralfaius jumped in with his secondary weapons, the large knifes with the prongs for disarming weapons while Bargalma fought them off with the trident.

"I'll admit, you boys work well together. It's a shame really, under my leadership, I could train you boys to be some of the best warriors that ever lived." Bargalma said as he did a sweep that made Lea and Ral jump back.

"Like we would ever let you teach us anything!" Ralfaius said as he pointed his blades at him.

"Yeah, our sister is the only best, most cool, super awesome, ultra bad teacher that we ever had." Miodelus said as he managed to finally untangle his nun-chucks from his staff.

"I think he get's what your saying Mio." Deotalus said as he picked up Ral's sais since Bargalma still had his trident.

"You heard them Bargalma, we will never join you. Now tell us what our sister is looking for." Leadonus demanded as he raised his scythe blade.

"Pity, to bad you all have to die now. And to think I could have made you all great." Bargalma said as he then charged at them with the trident pointing straight at them as the brothers got ready for his assault.

The brothers split as Bargalma charged right into the middle of them, using the long weapon to force them away from each other. Mio tried to get a few swings with his staff while Deo tried to stab at him with his brothers sais before Ral jumped in with his knifes followed by Lea with his broken scythe, swinging away at him while Bargalma just fought them with ease. Finally Deo managed to catch his trident with Ral's sais, holding him in place as Ral kicked Bargalma from behind, causing him to let go of the trident which Deo took back and threw Ralfaius sais back to him. Bargalma was weaponless, but he was still a master of hand-to-hand combat as he fought the brothers, blocking their weapons, putting them in holds and throwing them to the floor.

Leadonus knew this fight needed to end, so he past his brothers to corner off Bargalma from them as he used his scythe blade to force him back. Leadonus then threw his blade at Bargalma but he caught it just in time before the top part of his scythe blade plunged into his shoulder, but then Bargalma noticed his mistake, as Bargalma was distracted by the blade, Leadonus ran up and grabbed the broken staff part and pulled down the blade into Bargalma's neck and shoulder, making a fatal and final blow to him.

"I... can't believe I was defeated by a teen with a broken scythe." Bargalma said as he fell backwards onto the deck. Leadonus took a deep breath, happy that his risky tactic worked. "Very good boy, using my reflexes to catch me off guard as I caught your weapon." He said as his blood flowed out onto the deck. The brothers gathered around their fallen foe as he slowly died.

"Now that we beat you, tell us what our sister is looking for now!" Leadonus demanded.

"Fine, a deals a deal. What your sister is looking for... I have no idea." Bargalma said, chuckling at the last part.

"What!? You lie! What is she looking for?" Leadonus shouted as he grabbed him by the collar and pulled him up.

"If you want to know, you should ask my master. He's the one who sent me and my fleet after you." Bargalma replied with a grin.

"Who is your master?" Deotalus demanded.

"Lord Xana..." Bargalma said with a smile. The brothers stood shocked of what he said, knowing who Xana was since the gang told them about him last night. "From your expression you boys seem to know him, although you shouldn't even know of his existence." Bargalma questioned.

"That's none of your concern, now tell us where he is so we can punch some sense into him before taking him down for good." Ralfaius said.

"Sorry boys, but as one of his elites, giving away locations is against the rules." Bargalma replied as he undid a few of the top buttons to reveal Xana's mark on his chest just under his neck.

"It's just like one on of the guys that tried to bust the engine room up." Miodelus pointed out.

"Yes, the men on the long ships were apart of my fleet, but at least I will take you all down with me on this ship." Bargalma chuckled.

"What do you mean by that?" Leadonus asked, letting him go. Bargalma chuckled as he undid his shirt coat more to reveal that he was strapped with explosives with a timer that had only two minutes left. The brothers jumped back as the timer counted down.

"Ha ha ha, looks like your going down with the ship like a good captain. I had this ship filled with explosives as well. I'll see you all in hell!" Bargalma smiled to the brothers.

"Get back to the Aqulsa Harbaq now!" Leadonus shouted as they ran with all their might back to the lower deck where the ladder to they're ship was while the timer was in the last few seconds.

"All hail Lord Xana!" Was Bargalma's last words as the timer beeped and detonated the explosives that made an ear shattering explosion as the top deck had a huge hole blown in it, catching the gang on the Aqulsa Harbaq's attention as the last pirate was thrown off by Aracane. The Surfane brothers slid down the ladder and Leadonus right away, ran up to the captains deck and started up the ship.

"Cut the chains!" Leadonus shouted over the intercom. Ralfaius nodded and began to cut the chains that connected them to the enemy ship with his knifes as Lea sailed they're ship away as the explosives began to detonate and blow out the hulls of the ship as it slowly sunk in a hail of fire and burning metal. Finally the battle was over as the rain and thunder stopped. Everyone on board cheered as the last enemy ship was finished.

"What an exciting day, we've had several major battles. I'm so glad we got closure." Knulgen said as he sheathed his sword.

"And what do you mean by closure?" Aracane asked.

"Well we didn't have a big battle when we found the twins, Bel'la and Eli'ton. But now we had a massive battle on the seas with those four brothers, and I killed the most pirates." Knulgen said with a smile.

"You? If anyone took out the most pirates, it was me." Aracane said as he put his ax away.

"Alright then jackass, how bout I add you to my kill streak." Knulgen replied as he walked over to him.

"I just hope you know how to swim when I throw you off the ship." Aracane replied as the two got chest to chest.

"Cut it out you two, there's a lot we need to tell you." Deotalus said to them all.

"What did you find out? Who was that Bargalma guy?" Ulrich asked as the rest of the gang gathered around.

"Apparently that man was some kind of elite warrior or agent of the one called Xana. He even had Xana's mark on his chest, just like the pirate from earlier before he blew himself up." Deotalus explained to them.

"Wait, he blew himself up?" William asked.

"Yeah, the guy was crazy, but it doesn't matter now, he's gone and done for." Ralfaius said.

"Yes, and now I will make victory waffles." Miodelus said with a smile.

"You may want to hold your victory feast Mio. We forgot the last five ships!" Z said out loud as everyone looked out to see the last five war ships come out of the fog and aim they're cannons at them.

"How much ammo do we have left?" Kairaree asked.

"Not enough to take them all on." Deotalus replied a little deadpanned.

()()()()()()()()()

Back in the captains deck. "After all we've been through, we're about to get taken down by them." Leadonus said to himself as the enemy ships locked they're cannons onto them. Everyone on board the Aqulsa Harbaq waited for them to fire until the the sound of a cannon fire rang out through the air, but it didn't come from any of their ships. Suddenly one of the ships was hit by a huge missile as it tore through the deck, killing a number of the enemy pirates. The brothers and gang was surprised as another missile hit the enemy ship and several more smaller missiles hit until it finally began to sunk.

"What's going on? Who's hitting them?" Leadonus said as more missiles hit the other four ships making a number of heavy damage. Finally the enemy ships began to sail away but not before three more went down and the last one limped away with a huge plum of black smoke trailing behind it.

Everyone looked over in the direction of the missiles to see a large ship sailing up to them as the Surfane brothers smiled when they saw what the ship was called. It was The Drifter, the ship that they're uncle Garous commanded.

His ship was like any modern ship with a number of large cannons and massive amounts of turrets and launchers, and it was crewed by a number of people. The surfane brothers saw a Aquamarin standing over the rail as the ship pulled up beside them. They're uncle looked a lot like their father, but his dreads were a lot like Mio's, but just a little near the hips. And unlike the rest of his crew who wore dark gray sailor and military clothes, they're uncle wore a almost old time captains coat with a number of medals on the left side of his chest. A small crane turned in his direction and he grabbed the cable handle and jumped off his ship and repealed down to they're deck level.

"My nephews! How are you boys doing? I haven't seen you in a long time. Looks like I missed most of the party." Their cheery uncle Garous said with his arms outstretched. While Miodelus ran up and gave his uncle a hug. "Little Mio, you haven't changed a bit my boy."

"Glad you got here in time uncle Garous." Mio replied.

"Same here, I thought we bought it when those pirates came back." Deotalus said as he ran up to greet his uncle too.

"Deo! How's it going? Still as smart as ever I bet." Garous said, ruffling his dreads.

"Nice to see yo again uncle." Ralfaius said as he waved to him.

"And Ral, still a hot-head." Garous said as he gave him a pat on the back.

"Good to see you again uncle Garous." Leadonus said as he was the last to greet his uncle.

"And I'm glad to see you again too. I'm proud of how well you sailed your ship, your father would also be proud." Garous praised his nephew.

"How did you know how I sailed the ship?" Lea asked.

"Simple, I locked on to your homing signal and used a satellite uplink and tracked yours and the enemy ships movements. You took them down with ease." Garous replied as he looked around the deck and saw their new friends. "So who are these people? Friends of yours?"

"Yeah, I mean it's a long story. Let us take a break and we will fill you in later." Leadonus said to him while rubbing the back of his head.

"Okay then, I'll go back up board and tell the crew we will be here for awhile." Garous said as he grabbed the rope and gave it a tug, and before they knew it, he was reeled back on board his ship.

"Hey Lea, your Scythe is broken." Odd said to him, noticing the broken weapon.

"That captain Oarsalo broke my handle, but I managed to take him down. But now I have a broken weapon." Leadonus said as he looked at the scythe blade in his hand.

"Give it to me Lea, I'll fix it with a whole new handle with a surprise that I've been wanting to try." Deotalus said as Lea gave him what was left of his weapon and Deo then went down below into his workshop to do whatever he needed to do.

()()()()()()()()

As the gang took the time to clean themselves up from the battle while Z stitched Lea's hand in the living room with a med kit they had on board. When he was done, Leadonus had over thirty stitches and another painkiller injection into his hand to keep it numb for awhile. After that, Lea told the gang what Bargalma told them, that he worked for Xana and that only he knew what their sister Taleius was looking for. Finally Deotalus came back up and presented his new and improved scythe.

"Leadonus, I really think I outdid myself this time." Deo said as he held the scythe in a standing position with the staffs end on the floor. It looked just like his old staff and could still fold, but nothing else.

"Uh Deo, it looks just like my old staff handle." Leadonus said to him.

"Yes, it's still curved like the old one and can fold too. But the staff is now made of steel and thick leather. And near the lower parts of the handle," Deo said as he turned the staff around and showed two handles sticking out. One in the middle, and one near the lower part of the staff. "I installed handles for better grip and techniques. Having these handles will give you extra leverage." Deo finished as he gave Leadonus his scythe back.

They went back outside to give Leadonus more room to try out his new weapon. He then looked over the handle for a moment, then did a few slow swings as he began to make his moves faster while using the handles for faster swings and even did a spin attack while holding the back handle.

"I love it Deo, great job. Now we need to talk to our uncle." Leadonus said as if on cue, their uncle came back down the line.

"So you kids want to tell me what happened now? I need to know the whole story here." Garous asked as he landed on the deck with ease.

"Sure uncle, we'll meet you in the captains deck. And as for the rest of you guys, you can get something to eat in the living room." Leadonus said to their new friends as their uncle made his way to the captains deck.

"Oh thank you, I'm starving and it's past noon as it is." Odd said as his stomach growled a little.

"Hey Lea, if you don't mind, could you keep that man and Xana a secret from your uncle for now?" Aelita asked Leadonus.

"No worry's, I wasn't planning to. Because he probably wouldn't believe us anyway. We'll just tell him that Oarsalo just wanted payback because of what our father did to him." Leadonus replied as he and his brothers went up to the captains deck. After an hour and Odd and the gang eating a big meal back in the living area. The gang saw Garous and his nephews come in with them.

"I just want to say, thank you all for helping my nephews, even though you didn't have anything to do with it. So once again, thank you." Garous said as he took a little bow. The gang then took the time to tell him they're names.

"It was no problem, we just couldn't leave them to fight this alone." Yumi said to him.

"Yeah, friends help each other no matter what." Eli'ton said with a smile.

"And if those pirates come back, we will blast them out of the water." Aracane added.

"Okay then. Well I'm gonna head back to my ship and tell them to take off back to our docks." Garous said as he was leaving the room.

"Wait, you're staying on the ship?" Ulrich asked him.

"Yeah, the boys told me you all needed to go somewhere, and when you all get off, I will sail this ship back to our capital and get this baby fixed. After all, my brother and I sailed this ship when we were their age, so I want this thing back in it's prime, I will see you all in a few minutes." Garous added as he left the room to get back on his ship.

"So, I take it you guys are going to join us?" Kairaree asked the four brothers.

"We gave it a lot of thought, and after what you Earth born guys told us, and then us being attacked by this Xana guy can't be mere coincidence." Deotalus answered them.

"Yeah, plus we still got some more warriors to find, it's just like one of my comic books of people chosen by destiny." Miodelus said.

"I'm just going because as much as I like this ship, I need to see some more of the outside world." Ralfaius added.

"Then it's settled, we will join you in your journey to stop Xana. Now let us have the amulet so we can swear to join." Leadonus said as he held out his hand.

Aelita walked up to them with the amulet in hand and gave it to Lea who then held it out to his brothers as they all grabbed a part as the amulets arrows pointed at them. "We swear to join your cause in defeating Xana." They all said together. The orb on the amulet shined as four gems lighted up, signaling the next four warriors have joined.

"I really hope that amulet doesn't show six warriors this time." Jeremie said.

"Then you have nothing to worry about, the amulet is showing only one." Leadonus said as he showed them the arrow. The others sighed a breath of relief as they were finally down to one at a time again.

"The amulet is pointing in the direction of the continent Briourope, it's a very large land that takes up over thirty percent of the combined species of this planet." Deotalus said to them.

"Thanks for the info, travel guide." Ralfaius said sarcastically.

"Is this Briourope far from here?" Sam asked him.

"Not really, it's only a few hours until night and if we keep sailing through the night, we should get there a little after dawn. I'll go up to the captains deck and pinpoint where the amulet is pointing, and begin our sailing before uncle Garous gets back so we don't get him suspicious." Leadonus said as he left to go back to the captains deck with the amulet in hand.

()()()()()()()()()

After their uncle waved off the ship as it blew it's horn loud and sailed off while some of his crew waved they're captain good-bye for now. After that, Leadonus began to sail the ship in their intended direction while their uncle looked over the ship to see what needed to be done. The gang wasn't sure what he was saying since he was talking in his native tongue when he took a mental note of what needed to be fixed and he seemed really upset of the damage.

Deotalus and Jeremie went back into the engine room to patch up the engines since they took a lot of damage from the battle. Finally the night came in as Lea continued to sail the ship with the amulet in his coat pocket, which hasn't changed since the amulet gave a new heading. Everyone just relaxed and ate as the ship continued to sail until Garous came in around 11 o'clock to relieve Leadonus of duty and he told him to continue sailing in the direction they were going. Soon to be at the destination they were going as the ship sailed in the night.

()()()()()()()()()

Far away in an unknown place deep in a mountain, inside an advanced base like the planet has never seen. A human with dark blonde hair walked down a dim hall that had no other rooms connected to it. He was wearing a military like uniform that didn't belong to any of the nations. His face was filled with worry and fear as he finally reached the end of the hall. The door was large and round with the mark of Xana in the middle. The door hissed and the dial spin and the door opened slowly.

"Enter..." A voice called out to him, he shook a little but he need to obey.

He walked in slowly as light illuminated a path that would lead into the middle of the room. He then reached the center light and stood there, waiting for his next order.

"Report..." The voice demanded.

"Y-yes my lord. Bargalma's ships have not reported back, and as for the ones known as the Surfane brothers, they're whereabouts are unknown." The man said, suddenly a number of monitors ranging in all kinds of sizes light up, showing different channels and live video feed that kept flipping channels with the volume very low at the far end of the room. Just then, a familiar symbol lit up in a light reddish glow. It was the mark of Xana that the Earth born gang has come to know very well.

"No reports? There is no possible way that they could have took all of them down." Xana said with a little bit of anger in his cold, dark voice.

"We have our teams looking into it right now, but so far we've only just got a photo back from one of the ships. Apparently the brothers had some help on their ship." The man said as he pulled out a envelope with a printed picture in it. Then suddenly the envelope floated out of the mans hand and to where mark of Xana was.

"First my assassins don't report in, then the fool Robert Hallmon ends up dead, and now one of my best navel commanders is now gone. Who are these idiots that are mucking about in my business?" Xana said as he opened the envelope in the dark. He looked over the photo and his symbol glowed a little brighter. On the photo was the very people he wanted dead. The picture showed the warriors on deck fighting off the pirates that boarded them earlier that day with a few unfamiliar teens, but the ones that he has fought on Earth were there in the photo as well, fighting together on the ship with the Surfane brothers. "Leave, now." Was all Xana said.

"Yes Lord Xana." Was all he said as he turned and left the room.

When he was gone and the door closed, Xana growled heavily as the photo in his unseen hand began to burn to ashes. "Rrrraaahhhhhhhhhhh!" Xana roared in pure rage as the walls shook from his power. "No! They can't be alive. I sent some of the best assassins in the area, and they somehow failed miserably? And these other warriors, what is they're part in this? What are they doing with those fools? And where did they get those clothes and weapons? It's just like they're Lyoko outfits. Something else is at work here, but what?" Xana pondered. "No matter, I will end this with a personal touch." Xana said as he looked over to another part of the room. "Ukai!" Xana called out.

As Xana called out, a metal door opened, but there was still no light, but a pair of red eyes glowing with black irises. "Yes my master. You summon me?" The unseen being asked in a deep growling voice. The monitors changed to the image of the gang and they're new friends that was on the photo with a close up of they're faces.

"The warriors from Earth have somehow survived and have recruited a number of fools to join them. Hunt them down and kill them by any means, but bring the pink haired human girl Aelita back alive and unharmed, I want to deal with her personally. Follow their last known location and hunt them down, take as many troops and weapons you need." Xana ordered.

"It will be done my lord, the Lyoko warriors and their new friends will die!" Ukai said as his glowing eyes waved and moved.

"See that it is. Now go!" Xana finished as the sound of the sliding doors closed, leaving Xana to his thoughts of this suspicious turn of events. "Hmmm, could it be it's happening?" Xana asked himself.

DAY 13

The day came as the Aqulsa Harbaq sailed to it's destination. The gang and their new members got up and ate breakfast and then gathered their packs. Meanwhile, Ralfaius was in his room.

"Well buddy, as you know where about to go out into the big world and see all kinds of new things while looking for this Xana guy. I know I don't say it much but... I love you man." Ralfaius said as his eyes tear up a little as he looked at his... pet turtle. The turtle was as big as any common turtle with dark green skin and dark brown shell, eating a leaf.

"How cute," Mio said while Ral looked over to him. Miodelus was standing in Ral's doorway.

"Shut-up Mio!" Ral growled.

"You were talking to your turtle. That's what you were securing down yesterday. His turtle cage." Mio said in a sing-song voice.

"I said shut-up!" Ralfaius shouted as he leaped up and chased Miodelus, catching everyone's attention as they ran down the halls. Ralfaius chased him up to the deck as he finally tackled down Mio and beat at him until.

"Land-ho!" Garous yelled over the intercom while everyone looked to see a landmass coming up in the distance.

"Ral, why are you chasing Mio now?" Deotalus asked his brother as they fought on the deck floor.

"None of your business!" Ralfaius shouted at him while holding Mio in a headlock. The others walked over to the fighting brothers to find out whats going on.

"What did Mio do to get Ralfaius angry this time?" Ulrich asked Lea.

"Mio got Ral angry because he was kinda teasing him. Ralfaius has a pet turtle named Sparks. He's had it since he was two. And he gets a little touchy when he's talking to him." Leadonus explained to the gang.

"Awe." The girls all said.

"It's none of your business okay. Now I need to go tell uncle Garous how he needs to take care of Sparks while I'm gone." Ralfaius said as he walked up to the captains deck to talk to his uncle.

After another hour, the gang finally saw a port coming up. Aelita even looked at the amulet and it was still pointing in that direction. "Were coming up on a small port everyone. Get ready to dock." Garous said over the intercoms.

"What is this nation in Briourope called anyway?" Jermie asked.

"This nation is called Arthurlot. One of the most powerful nations in the world. It has stood over seven thousand years to this year." Z said as he looked out with his backpack on. The others had their backpacks on as well, and even Lea and Ral put some packs on.

"I already signaled to the port masters, so you don't have to worry about permission to pass into the city." Garous called out to them as they finally pulled into a dock. The ramp was lowered and the gang walked off after giving Garous they're good-byes. The brothers looked over their ship one more time while Miodelus took a small photo of his sister Taleius. Finally they stood at the deck near the ramp and gave their uncle Garous, who was holding Ral's pet turtle Sparks in his hand.

"Good-bye Sparks, I'll see you later." Ralfaius said to his turtle that had a simple look on his face.

"See you around uncle, I can't wait to see the ship when it's finished." Deotalus smiled.

"Later..." Miodelus said with a wave.

"Love you uncle Garous, we'll see you again." Leadonus finished.

"Take care my nephews. You and your friends look out for each other and I will return our ship to it's former glory soon enough." Garous said as the brothers walked down the ramp. The ramp rolled up while they're uncle waved good-bye. He then went back to the captains deck and began to sail away.

Ulrich looked at the ships name one more time and asked Lea. "Hey Leadonus, your ships name, the Aqulsa Harbaq. What does that mean anyway?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh the name? What Aqulsa Harbaq means in our language is, 'Wave Reaper' a name well earned." Leadonus replied. His brothers nodded in agreement.

"Okay then Aelita. Lead the way." Yumi said as she looked at the amulet.

"That way guys. Into the city." Aelita said as she pointed to the city in the not to far distance. With the Surfane bothers now on their side, and another warrior in their search. The gang headed into the city, not knowing what special ability's the next warrior will bring, and what new enemy they will all be facing soon.

**END CHAPTER.**


	17. THE STREET PERFORMER

**CHAPTER 17: THE STREET PERFORMER**

The Surfane brothers looked out as their ship sailed off into the distance while they climbed the open stairs of the dock that they got off on. The brothers gave a sigh as their ship that has been apart of they're whole life in someway or another, as Leadonus and Ralfaius tugged at the straps of their backpacks before heading up the stairs.

"Hey no worry's guys, you'll see your ship again, and in much better condition then it was." Odd said for comfort to the four worried brothers.

"A little to much at the last part Odd!" Yumi said, giving him a nudge.

"It's all right, that ship needed a tune up anyway. And knowing our uncle, he'll put in a few surprises into that ship." Leadonus said.

Everyone walked up the stairs until they reached a booth with guards the Earth born gang has never seen before. The men and women that patrolled the area were wearing uniforms that seemed to be a cross between medieval knights and modern soldiers.

The helmets are fitted to they're sizes with heavy padding on the inside that almost looked like a common knight's helmet, but with a glass-like visor that didn't compromise their vision in anyway, and could also be unlocked to allow the face plate to slide up in case of an emergency or for identity purposes.

The upper body armor plates covered they're entire chest with a vest for their ammo and communicators. And a backpack on for when their in combat. Rivets in the abs and lower back area allowed them to bend in those areas, and round plates on their shoulders and gauntlet like guards for their arms. They're waists had pouch packs that allowed them to carry a number of other things and even a sidearm. Their leg armor also had a grieve like look to it for boots that also allowed them to traverse over most terrain, and the leg parts had metal plate like look to it, but the whole armor was still light weight, easy to maneuver, and easy to put on and take off by themselves.

"Hold right there young travelers." The guard said. They could tell he is human because he had the face plate slid up to reveal his face. The weapon that he was carrying is a modern assault rifle that was standard issued, but it had all kinds of intricate grooves and inlets that made they're guns look like a work of art, rather then a weapon. And depending on how the rifle looks, it could show rank amongst the army. His was a simple blackish color.

"Is there a problem sir?" Z asked casually.

"Not really, we we're informed of a group of teenage travelers heading up this way by a clearance code from a man known as Captain Garous of The Drifter, who authorized your pass. We just need to check your personal for any illegal substance or items." The guard said.

The gang complied as they were moved into small groups and patted them down and even put their packs aside to look in them as well. Miodelus kept laughing because he's very ticklish as they searched him. Near the booth was a large built in table where a higher ranked general that they could tell was a Lizardin because of his armored tail. He looked over they're weapons to see if their was anything amiss. His armor uniform was like the others, but his shoulder pads were a little longer and had several medals on the left side of his chest, and he even had a decorative long sword at his left hip that was custom made and showed his rank. As he looked over they're weapons one by one, and even checked Z's guns that he had on him.

"Young man, is there anything you have that can verify these firearms?" The general asked.

"Yes sir I do." Z said as he took a small almost wallet like item out of a secret pocket and presented it to the General. The General opened it and looked it over. After a few seconds the General closed it and gave it back to Z.

"It's all in order then Zarcanion." The General said as he looked over to Knulgen. "Lad, please give us your sword so we can look it over." He demanded.

"No way, my sword never leaves me. Not again." Knulgen said as he gripped the swords sheath tighter.

"Knulgen, just let him look at your weapon so we can go already." William said to him as he took his butcher sword back.

"I know what it's like to cling onto your weapon no matter what lad. I know because I've had my sword by my side in all my battles, but I must check your weapon." The General said with his hand out.

"Fine..." Knulgen replied as he gave the man his weapon to check it.

Finally the guards were done checking them over and gave them a small speech. "You may have your weapons on you, but you must keep them sheathed at all times unless it is of the most extreme emergency. And with that said, welcome to the capital city of Arthurlot, enjoy your stay." The General said as they open one of the small gates and let them out of the small port.

Everyone looked out into the distance of the vast empire that was in front of them. The city had a number of tall building like any modern city. The gang decided to board a tram to get into the city faster. As the gang boarded the tram, they all looked out to see the city. It was marvelous in looks. Like a cross between the old age and the new. While the skyscraper looked like any other skyscraper, the smaller and lower buildings were made of stone and various other masonry and the walkway streets were made of cobblestone paths.

"So Aelita, how did those guards not find your amulet?" Leadonus asked as he looked out behind the tram to the city's massive ports one last time.

"The guard who search me didn't really search much. I guess she thought I was too innocent looking to be any trouble." Aelita replied as she giggled a little.

"Just remember to keep that amulet close. It's very important to us to find the last few warriors." Z said, laying back in his seat.

"This nation is very different looking. It's almost like we stepped back in time, but then again we didn't." Ulrich said as he looked out the window to the city with it's aged look.

"That's because most of Briourope is steeped in tradition. They've mixed the old world into the new as the ages passed. They hold all kinds of festivals and holidays that mark the historical events that have happened over the many nations of this continent. I would really like to visit the many museums this city has." Deotalus explained as he looked out the window.

"Is there all kinds of species here as well?" Odd asked, wanting to know more.

"Yes, like most places in this world, different species live all over the place. But like any species, we all have our lands of origin. This continent is where most of the entire human species come from." Deo added.

"About sixty percent of the entire human species and they're different races." Z chimed in.

"You really know a lot of history too, don't you Z?" Deo commented on his knowledge.

"You know, you guys still haven't told us much about your planet." Miodelus said to the Earth members.

"We'll tell you more later Mio. Right now we need to a least try to get a bearing on the next warrior in case we need to find a place to sleep the night." Jeremie said to him.

"When the tram stops, we will begin our search into the city for the next warrior. Then later if we have no luck, we will find a place to sleep for the night." Kairaree added.

After a half hour or so, the tram stopped in a tram station and the gang got out and began to search the city. The city was much better looking on the inside then it was from afar. People walked in the small districts filled with wonderful shops of all kinds, they had to keep an eye on Miodelus because he kept trying to go into the candy shops. The guards walked in small groups as both a sign of security and display of their traditions. After a few hours the gang made it to the middle district. It was one of the original locations of Arthurlot back when it was first found. It was almost noon as the gang continued to walk down the cobblestone streets, the Earth born members of the gang noticed something that they have never seen before.

"Guys, what is that person over there suppose to be?" Aelita asked the Earthera born members as they all looked over where she was pointing to see a species her Earth friends have never seen before.

"You don't know what species that man is? He's a goblin." Z informed. The other Earth born member looked closer down the streets to a market area as the goblin stood behind a large booth filled with produce. He wore simple clothes like everyone else on the streets. He was a full grown adult around six feet tall, his skin was a darkish green with pointed ears and fingernails, his nose was a little wider and his teeth were just a tad longer, and he had short black hair. The Earth born gang then noticed that there was a number of these goblins as they walked around and intermingled with the rest of the species as well. As the gang continued to walk, a human man casually walked pass them, but what he was wearing that caught the Earth gangs attention. He wore a long black cloak with a belt around his waist with a long pouch at the side of his hip as he walked off to his business.

"Okay, I'll ask, what is going on? Goblins and a guy who's dressed like a wizard. What is all this?" Odd asked their Earthera born members.

"Well Odd, that's probably because he is a wizard." Z simply replied.

"Wait, you're saying that there are wizards and such on this planet?" William asked, not believing them.

"From the sound of your voices, you guys don't know much about magic and such?" Leadonus asked the Earth gang.

"Well sorta, but magic is just fantasy on our world. Nothing more then story's put into books and movies and so on." Sam replied.

"Interesting, magic is real on our world, but somehow it seems to be nothing but fantasy on yours. You guys and your planet are something else. I mean I'm a man of science, but the way I see it, magic and science are like two sides of the same coin. In fact I have a number of books back on the ship that I've memorized. The books talk say that a number of scientist have studied magic in work by powerful magic wielders as they studied them with the latest in equipment to see the effects that magic can do. Also in this one part of my book involved changing-" Deotalus went on until.

"Put a sock in it Deo, or we're gonna have to drag them around since you're about to put them to sleep." Ralfaius said, annoyed by his brothers rambling.

"This must be why we're here of all places. The next warrior must be a powerful magic wielder." Ulrich said to them.

"The only problem is, where do the people that use magic, live and study?" Yumi asked.

"People that use magic don't live in specific locations, they just live where ever they please like anybody else across Briourope. But they do have academy's that's for magic wielders only. We may need to start our searches there." Z said.

"This is still a little too much for me. It's overwhelming that we fought a mad computer virus on our planet in the first place, then we get sent to this planet where Xana really is, and now this planet has people who use magic? What else could happen?" Jeremie asked. Suddenly a flash of light flew up in the air and burst as a number of colorful sparks floated down.

In front of the gang was a crowd of people gathered around where the source of light came from. Instinctively, the gang walked over and gently passed through the large crowd, accept Knulgen, who just shoved pass people. Finally they got to the front of the crowd of people that surrounded a small fountain with a round stone wall that was a few feet high for people to sit around it with a beautiful tree planted in the middle of it as water shot up and into the artificial pond.

Before the gang could get a better look, another flash of light shot up in the air, making another shower of colorful sparks as the people clapped and cheered to the person who was doing the display took a bow to the crowd. He was wearing a open rope like coat that was a very bright red with some colors at the bottom. His boots were black with the large flaps at the top near his knees. His gloves were like that of a magician. His top and pants were a light black with a long blue colored silk belt wrapped around his waist. He wore a green long scarf that wrapped around his neck, all the way up to the lower part of his face, covering his face from the nose down, showing only his dark violet eyes that seemed to shine. And finally he wore a ridiculously large light green wizard hat with a long point and huge brim all around.

"Thank you, thank you so much. Now that I have your attention, I... the street magician, would like to perform for you. Spells and tricks that will amaze you all. Incantations of wonder and mystery. And all for the price of simple applause." The street magician said with a cheerful voice as the crowd clapped in agreement.

"Now for my first trick, a simple water magic." He said as he walked over to the fountain. He held one hand over and began to swirl his hand over it. The water started to float out in a stream as he continued to swirl his hand around until he backed away with the water following. The crowd oohed and awed in wonder as he then began to use both hands as the water swirled around him in different directions until finally he raised both hands into the air and the stream of water flew up and burst into a cloud that then rained over the tree until it was all gone. The crowed cheered and clapped.

"Thank you, now for my next trick. Is there anybody in the crowd who has a small devise on them? Just a phone or music player will do." He asked the crowd. A human in the crowd raised his hand and pulled out a smart-phone like item and showed it to the young man. "Excellent sir, just what I need." The Street magician said as he took the item that was given to him. "Now sir, please understand that what I do next may shock you, but I promise that your phone will be just fine in the end." The magician said as he threw the phone to the ground, smashing it to pieces. The crowd gasped and the man looked like he was about to knock his lights out.

"This is all part of the act people. Watch as I fix his phone." The street magician said as he got on his knees and gathered the pieces into one pile. He then placed his hands on the pile and a flash of white light shinned over it for a few seconds. The light faded away and he then removed his hands to show the phone in one piece and looking just like it was before. The crowd cheered as the street magician then gave the phone back to the now smiling man as he turned it back on and the menu popped on. He even showed it to the crowd who wanted a closer look of it as he shook the magicians hand in gratitude.

"I told you all it would be fine. Now for my next trick." He said as he looked over to see a Lizardin couple and their six year old girl with a purple stuffed horse in her hands. "Hello there little girl, what's your name?" He asked her as he keeled down in front of her.

"Jenla." She replied.

"Hello Jenla, and who is your friend here?" He asked as he pointed to the floppy stuffed horse in her hands.

"Clopper." She said as she held the horse up.

"Clopper huh? Because horses clop around with there hoofs, don't they?" He said happily as he patted his knuckles on the ground like a horse walking as the little girl giggled. "Well how would you like to see Clopper walk around for awhile like a real horse? Would that be fun?" He asked the girl. She happily shook her head in agreement "Alright then, _Vosa bal lo._" The street magician said as he did a gesture to the horse. The stuffed animal then wiggled a little until the little girl let it go as it then landed on it's hoofs and whinnied to her. She giggled and laughed with joy as the horse pranced around her while she petted and hugged the now animated horse as everyone cheered and clapped at the now living stuffed horse. "Just to let you two know, it will be alive for a few hours." He said to the parents as the crowd chuckled a little. The little girl gave him a quick hug which he returned happily.

"Now for something really interesting." The street magician said he pointed to two young women that were standing next to each other. One was a Arachun while the other was a Molknuc. He gestured them to come over where he was standing. "You two have very lovely eye colors." He said to the Arachun with bright green eyes and the Molknuc with amber eyes as the girls giggled a little. "And are you two friends?" He asked.

"Oh yes." The Arachun woman said.

"Since we were kids." The Molknuc woman added.

"Then would you two mind if you do me a favor? Would you both kindly put your hands over your eyes until I ask you to remove them." He asked with a sly voice. The women chuckled a little as they did what he asked. He then put a hand over theirs and then said. "_Swila._" He said as he removed his hands from theirs. "Now remove your hands and look at each other." He said as he backed away a little. The two removed there hands and looked at each other as they gasped, noticing what he did. He switched their eye colors. The crowd cheered as the women talked to each other in excitement as they even took a quick picture of each others new color. After a minute he switched they're colors back to normal, using the same method.

The magician continued to do tricks and magic while the gang watched him, forgetting what they were doing in the first place. The magicians tricks involved changing a few peoples voices to that of they're most favorite animals that sounded like the real deal, and one trick involving making a fireball bounce around, and another trick that made a volunteer float off the ground. After an hour or so of tricks and spells. The street magician prepared to performed his last trick.

"I have one more trick left to show you all. But I would need one more volunteer." He said as he looked at the crowd. People raised they're hands, asking for him to pick them. Finally he spotted Aelita. "You there, young lady with the pink hair." He said, pointing to her.

"Me?" Aelita said as she pointed to herself.

"Yes you, I think you would be perfect for the next trick." He said as he gestured her to come over to him.

"Do it Aelita, this guys amazing." Odd whispered.

"Yeah, go for it girl. Maybe he might turn you into an angel." Sam added.

"She right, an angel like you really are for Jeremie." Yumi chimed in as Aelita and Jeremie blushed from her comment.

Aelita caved in as she walked up to him. "There we go, now tell us, what is your name?" The street magician asked.

"Um, Aelita."

"Aelita, sounds like the name of an angel." He said as she blushed a little and Sam giggled with her friends.

"Now Aelita, my next trick is called. The Princess, The Knight, And The Dragon. I need you to kindly sit right here near the fountain." He said as he gently lead her and sat her down.

"And now, for the dragon to appear." He said as he walked a little away from her. He then began to wave his hands around in a ball like movement as a little fire ball began to form. When the fireball got about a foot big in diameter, he threw it up in the air and burst into the form of a dragon made of pure fire. The dragon was around ten feet long and as big as a large horse and was of the 'snake' type with four legs and a mane. The fire dragon roared as it dived down to where Aelita was sitting. She began to put her arms up but the street magician then began the next phase of his act.

"Oh no you don't dragon!" He said in a 'hero' like voice as he flicked his arm and a whip of light came from his hand and wrapped around the dragons neck and he pulled the dragon of magic fire. The dragon flew up in the air as he tugged and pulled at the magic rope. "This is quite a powerful dragon, I don't know if I can hold him any longer." He said as he continued to tame the dragon. The audience cheered him on while the gang watched in anticipation as the dragon continued to fly around in a circle until it flew downward again at Aelita. The dragon opened it's mouth and made a roar as everyone gasped. Aelita raised her arms in defense as the dragon got a few feet from her. Just then the dragon began to fade away in a massive shower of colorful lights that rained over the crowd. Everyone cheered and clapped in amazement as the street magician helped Aelita to her feet and took another bow to the crowd.

"Thank you all, you have been a wonderful crowd. Take care everyone." The street magician said as he began to walk away. Aelita made her way back to her friends as they cheered for her as well.

As the magician walked away, Z frowned a little through his sunglasses in curiosity. "Aelita, look at the amulet. Something seem suspicious of that person." Z said to her.

Aelita raised her eyebrow as she took out the mystical item. She looked at it and gasped as she confirmed what Z was thinking about. The gang took a quick look at it as the arrow pointed straight at the magician as he continued to take bows while he backed away into the crowd.

"We need to get to him now before we loose him." Yumi said as she began to make her way towards him. As they tried to follow the street magician, they got surrounded by the crowd as they walked off into various directions. They lost sight of the person while trying to walk in his direction, but as they finally pushed through the crowd, the person was long gone.

"Great, now what do we do?" Odd asked.

"Don't panic, we just have to keep following the amulet. Aelita, lead the way." Ulrich said as she nodded and began to lead them through the alleys.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

The magician got very far away from the crowd in no time at all as he walked in an old empty and large alleyway as he took off his hat to let his hair fall out. His hair had three unique colors to it. The front of his head had four long white strands of hair that was parted into two sets in front of his face without covering his eyes. The middle section of his head hair was silky black, and pulled back into a long ponytail that was a gleaming silver color, that went down almost to his waist. He then pulled down the scarf to reveal the rest of his handsome face that made him look incredibly breathtaking to the ladies. "That was wonderful, they really loved my performance." He said to himself as he continued to walk the quiet alley.

Suddenly he heard the clatter of something being kicked and stopped in his tracks. "Who's there?" He demanded in a serious tone. Just then, four guards walked out from an alleyway ahead of him. They were dressed like the other guards that patrol the street, but their armor was very different. They're armor had capes on them with the crest of the kingdom, which was a long broadsword that had a large eye like gem in the middle where the guard would go with an elegant wreath like structure that wrapped halfway around the handle in a downward crest and a dragon head at the top of the crest and their armor was more well protected, and a lot more shinny then the other guards. They had assault rifles strapped to one side, but they had they're swords at the ready.

The street magician backed away a little until he turned around as four more guards walked out from another alley, but they were carrying lances instead. Just then another man jumped down from a low roof next to the magician. His armor was far more lightweight and not as well padded. The helmet, chest, forearms, waist, and lower leg parts were a light gray with the other parts a cobalt blue color to the rest of the clothe-like armor with a light sash that went around his waist that went down the front and back of his waist. He had two Uzi like guns at his hips with a long sword strapped to his back and lance in his hand over his shoulder. The face plate of his helmet was removed, showing a young human man with dull green eyes and short dark brown hair that stuck out a little from his helmet where his face was.

"Hello there again Bishop, took you all a little longer to find me this time." The magician said with a indifferent smile.

"You alluded us for a long time, but your performance finally caught our attention." Bishop replied to the young man.

"So what now? Am I in trouble again for what I've done?" He asked.

"We'll work that out later. For now we will escort you back to where you need to be." Bishop said as he put a hand on the magicians shoulder and put two fingers to the side of his helmet. "Attention guards, head back to the castle, I've found him. Repeat, I've found the Prince."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

A few hours later. "Dammit! We've been looking for hours and that magician just up and disappeared!" Knulgen said out loud to them.

"Well he is a magician, disappearing is probably one of his acts." Miodelus said to him with a laugh, which earned him a slap upside the head from Ralfaius.

"He wasn't a magician, he was more of a wizard or some other type of spell caster." Z said to him.

"Either way, it's getting late. We should find a place for the night soon." Ulrich said, getting a little tired from they're long search.

"Hey guys, what is this?" Odd called out as they looked in his direction. The gang saw a small memorial surrounded by grass and a few bushes with a small cement walkway leading up to the memorial. The gang walked up to it as Odd looked at it. The statue was of a man in decorative armor like the city guards. His cape went down and dragged a little as it covered his shoulders and he wore a beautiful open crown and held a large long sword with an eye in the center of the guard as it was held downward into the ground in front of him. His face was very handsome even though it was made of stone.

Next to him was incredibly beautiful woman who was wearing a similar armor and cape but more feminine and held a curved sword. Her crown was very similar to the man next to her with her beautiful hair that went down her back. The gang looked at it in wonder as Z walked up to read the plaque.

"In memory of King Beo and Queen Morgan. With the power of the legendary royal sword, The Excalion. Gave their lives to save our kingdom of Arthurlot from a catastrophe that threatened all of Briourope and beyond. Many kings and queens that were born to one day wield the sword Excalion, have lead our land into ages of peace and prosperity within our kingdom and other as well. King Beo's honor for his ancestry gave him the will to give up his life for us all, and will never be forgotten. And Queen Morgan's undying love for her Kingdom was matched only by her love for her son, Prince Jack. Who will one day rule our land with kindness and justice." Z finished reading to the group.

"They sounded like great leaders." Yumi said as she reflected on the words.

"They were some of the best leaders this land has ever known." Leadonus added.

"What happened to them? What was it that that threatened this kingdom?" Jeremie asked.

"The Royal Councils of the Untied Kingdoms, have kept most of the information a secret so that there's no panic caused across the lands. From what I know, the king and queen went to where whatever it was that threatened their land. There was a bright flash of light and after a few hours, a search party went down there and the land looked like a bomb wiped the whole place out, and the only thing they found was the Excalion and nothing else." Z said to them.

"And their son Jack, where is he?" William asked.

"From what I heard, he's been kept in the castle to continue his study's. This whole event happened over five years ago when he was eleven or so." Z continued.

"How do you know all this?" Kairaree asked.

"We're informed in politics, and what's going within they're lands so we can keep tabs on them in case we need to step in." Z said to her.

"Hey Z, I've been meaning to ask, are there goblins in the Zarcanions too?" Odd asked.

"Yes, I even know a few myself. Now can we get back on track Odd?" Z replied.

"So where's the castle then?" Sam asked.

"It's in the direction that we're-" Z began to say but then stopped.

"Z? is something wrong?" Bel'la asked.

"You guys don't think that the next warrior is the prince of Arthurlot, do you?" Z asked them, unsure if they thought so as well.

"My god, it would make sense, that street magician did seem very powerful with magic, and he disappeared right away." Eli'ton said.

"We may be right, but we have two problems here. Why was he out of the castle, and how are we gonna get him to join us? He's royalty." Aracane added.

"Listen, we're all tired, we still haven't got our land legs back yet. It's pass noon and we still haven't even really eat much. So let's find a place and try to think of something. If the amulet is really pointing to the castle, then we may have found our biggest challenge in getting one of the chosen warriors on our side, but for now we need to rest and think of a game plan." Jeremie said as they all agreed and began to search for a lodge for the night.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The royal castle that the one known as Jack lived in was like no other. The castle was built on the front of a mountain that was at least over fifteen miles from the city's boarder so in case there was a direct attack on them, the city would be safe. The number of renovations the castle has gone over resulted in some parts being built over as new rooms and courtyards have been placed. The castle is massive enough to hold over thirty thousand people if it needed to.

As the ages passed, the castle has been built bigger and bigger to keep current to the ages with over a thousand guards, and a few hundred royal elite guards, and over a thousand workers, from maids and cooks and repair and maintenance personnel, and even a secret bunker command room or 'war room' in case there was a major attack on their land or their allies. The castle may have looked like it was from the dark ages, but that was only for looks. The castle was reinforced inside and out with state of the art security and ID scanners, with a number of armory's and weapons rooms, and even a number of inner and outer defenses that have long since replaced cannons and murder holes that are long gone. And even a room for the security in charge of monitoring the castle.

The base of the castle had a large metal wall which was the castle 'gate' that ran almost a half mile before it got to the main courtyard which was where the front entrance is and to the side was the underground employee parking lot and tram system since the nations main army base was located behind the mountain with hundreds of thousands of troops training with a number of barracks across they're nation for troop rotation, so the tram was there to switch guards for the castle and main city. As for the inside of the castle, pure luxury. The kind of thing you would expect of a castle with the royal living area that few had privilege to enter for safety purposes. It had a massive lobby where the front entrance is, and a massive ballroom which has held countless party's over the ages, and rooms for guests and a massive kitchen to cook for the people that work there.

The castle has a number of levels and outside balcony's which thanks to a clever building scheme, prevented people who would try to break in through the windows would be impossible because the nearest balcony was too far off the ground to get a line on, and the way they were designed, prevented people from climbing in because they would loose their footing, or unable to secure a line before reaching the patio rails. The castle had a number of rec rooms, lecture halls, a massive library with millions of books and tomes for the live in wizards that protected the people in case of a 'magic attack' and a pool area for the royal family and the King and Queens room, which was by most peoples standards to big for just two people, but hey... that's royalty. Down the hall was a few rooms for the princes and princesses of the ages.

In another part of the castle held a room for the King and Queen to do their business with running the kingdom. Another room which was one of the princes favorite room since it had his piano in it and a few couches to relax on. Another one of the major rooms was the the throne room, where the King and Queen sat. the floor was a beautiful marble with a long carpeted walkway that lead to the throne. And the room's roof was made with gorgeous stain-glass that shinned so bright when the sun was on it since the throne room was one of the largest room in the castle and it's also the place where the successors would be crowned. The bottom had a number of gardens and even large training ground for the guards on duty to practice and hangout when they were on break.

The last features of the castle was that of the countless hidden tunnels and chambers to detour and escape in case of an emergency and even a copter-jet landing zone in case they need to evacuate or fly to another kingdom or empire. The castle even had a prison holding system nicknamed 'the dungeon' but it was up to code when it came to containing dangerous prisoners for whatever means.

The gates opened as a limo like vehicle drive in and up to the main entrance. Jack climbed out of the vehicle with Bishop right behind him, but before they got back in the main entrance, Bishop stopped him. "Just remember, you made a lot of people happy today." Bishop said as Jack gave him a small smile. They entered the building to show a massive lobby with painting, vases, and decorative armor, and a few guards stationed at their posts and even a few maids and butlers doing their duties. At the end of the lobby was a massive staircase that split into two ways that would lead to all kinds of places in the castle.

The two began to make there way up the stairs until. "Prince Jack!" A voice yelled out as a look of being busted was on both of they're faces. "Just what were you thinking when you escaped the castle... again?" The voice asked as they turned around and looked down to a Imp.

The Imp was over a foot and a few inches tall, the height you would expect an Imp to be. His skin was a very light green color and he had small pointed ears and a pointed face with bright yellow eyes with black irises. His hands had only six pointed fingers and the same with his shoeless toes. He wore a dark brown rope and dull pants and a pointed and tall black hat-like garment which was an Imp tradition for his position. He held a tall wooden mystic staff that would usually be too tall for him since the staff would be perfect for a normal sized person, but he seemed to carry it well enough. On the top of the staff had two heads, one that was like a dragon carved into it, and on the other side was a human like head.

"Well? What's your excuse this time young master?" The Imp asked.

"Hello to you too Joegon thanks for asking." Jack replied sarcastically.

"Grr, I swear young prince, if I had hair, you would have made it fall out by now. Do you think what you do is funny? Every time you escape, we need to work hard to find you because the last thing we need is word to get out that the prince is wondering around the streets so some potential kidnapper can capture you, and hold you for ransom or worst!" Joegon said as he slammed the bottom of his staff to the marble floor.

"Nobody is going to kidnap me. I'm way ahead of my studies and Bishop has taught me very well with a sword and other weapons." Jack said to the angry Imp.

"That's not the point. The fact is that you broke out of the castle again just to perform tricks to strangers." Joegon said.

"Joegon, in his defense, this is only his fifth time of escaping the castle this month. You could cut the young prince a break." Bishop defended him.

"And you could show a little more professionalism in your duty. I don't care if you are a Elite Guard Master, your way too 'laid back' and your loose morals is filling the boy's head with all kinds of wrong ideas." Joegon said, pointing his staff at him.

"There is nothing wrong with enjoying life and wanting to see the world. There is bigger things going on out there beyond the castle grounds, and you can't enjoy it being cooped up here. I know he may be the only living heir to the throne, but he should enjoy himself before that. And as for you, you tightwad Imp, you should learn to relax more. You may be the Royal Adviser, but you should take my advise before you drop dead of a heart attack." Bishop said, a little loud.

"Why you sword swinging, lance thrusting, blowhard fool. If you put as much effort into watching over the prince as you would with your duties, I wouldn't have to worry or complain as much!" Joegon shouted.

"You would find something else to whine about. The problem with you is that you forget what it's like to be that age, so you need to give him a hard time because your now just old and grumpy." Bishop mocked.

"I swear if I had it my way, you would be stripped of your rank and tossed out of this land for good!" Joegon said as he slammed the staff to the ground again.

"Take your best shot buddy, my position is more important because you can't fight a battle by giving advise. And don't think that staff of yours will protect you much from me." Bishop said as he flicked the staff.  
Jack leaned against the golden rail of the stairs as the two once again got into they're heated argument until he finally jumped in. "If it's alright with you two, I'm going to change out of these clothes and get ready for dinner." Jack said to them as he walked up the stairs to his room.

When he was finally gone, the two looked back at each other. "Well, looks like we did it again Joegon. We upset him more." Bishop said as he rubbed his head.

"I know I seem hard on him, but that's only because I truly care about him. It's bad enough that we've lost the king and queen." Joegon said as he calmed down.

"But you know Jack can't just stay here forever. He deserves better then this." Bishop replied.

"Well, I'm going to let this go for now. I'll think of how he needs to be punished later." Joegon said as he walked away to finish his current duty's. Bishop looked up the stairs on where Jack went up before heading back to the training grounds.

()()()()()()()()()()

The gang found a nice lodge in a more elevated part of the city with a nice view of a canal with a bridge and more important, a clear view of the castle which looked marvelous with the sun setting in front of it. Aelita stood in front of a window in their large group room as the gang began to get settled.

"I can't believe we got this room for such a low price." Bel'la said as she laid down on her bed.

"Yeah, I guess they needed the money since the tourist season isn't here yet." Deotalus said as he took a bed as well.

"Hey Leadonus, what are you looking for in your pack?" William asked as he saw Lea digging in his pack.

Leadonus didn't answer, instead he smiled and pulled out two weapons and the sheaths from his pack. "These my friends... are my duel sickles." He said as unsheathed them and twirled and did a few swings.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about those weapons Lea. Good thing you have them so the next time we need to harvest wheat, we'll give you a call." Ralfaius chuckled which earned him his brothers pack being thrown face first at him which made him very angry as he muttered to himself.

"They're going to have dinner soon, we should head downstairs before there's a line." Eli'ton said as he took off the top part of his armor to stretch.

"You know guys, I wonder when we are going to see GW again? He should have appeared by now." Odd said as he laid back on the headboard of his bed. Suddenly a bright flash of light filled the room as it took form of the familiar ethereal being that the current members of the gang knew.

"Patience is a virtue Odd, and all great warriors must learn the value of it." GW said to Odd.

"Whoa, that was so cool! Do it again, do it again!" Miodelus cheered to the new person.

"Ah, you must be Miodelus. I can tell that you have a very free spirit and kind heart." GW said to him with a smile.

"Amazing, you transferred yourself into our realm. How did you do it? Is it some kind of wormhole, or a dimensional leap that allowed you to enter our universe? Or maybe a-" Deotalus rambled on with questions.

"I can see that you are a young man of knowledge and wisdom Deotalus, but remember that there is a difference to both of these elements." GW said to him.

"Geez, this guys a walking philosophy." Ralfaius said while still lying on his bed.

"And you Ralfaius must learn that anger will only bring harm to yourself and others." GW said with a more stern tone.

"Hello, I'm Leadonus, but I'm sure you know that. How do you know our names anyway?" Lea said as he walked up to him.

"I know your names through the amulet that always alerts me to the presence of new warriors, but I also sensed that there is a problem amongst you?" GW asked them.

"There kinda is, the amulet is pointing to the castle and we believe the prince is the chosen warrior, because for some reason he was on the streets performing tricks." Yumi explained.

"Plus he royalty, and probably wouldn't want to help us anyway." Knulgen said as he laid on his bed with his hands under his head.

"Just because he's royalty, doesn't mean he's a spoiled brat, Knulgen!" Aracane said to him as he paused from sharpening his ax.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied.

"What Knulgen means is, how are we going to reach him? He's in the castle, and we can't just walk up to the front door and ask him to travel with us." Z said giving Knulgen a glare through his sunglasses.

"He's right, it was only pure luck that we thought to check the amulet earlier that day. But now we are truly out of reach from him." Aelita said as she walked over to where GW was.

"I know things look difficult right now, but you all must trust the amulet to lead you on the right path. It hasn't lead you astray before. After all, you have managed to find each other, so one way or another the amulet will put you on the right path." GW said with a small smile.

"Hey GW, you must have knew about this planet having magic and other mystic things. So why didn't you tell us about it?" Sam asked.

"I didn't think you would believe me, plus you've already had so much happened to you that day, I didn't want to overwhelm you. Besides, it would have been more fun for you to discover this wonder yourself." GW answered with a smile to them.

"So I guess you will be leaving again now?" Jeremie asked, predicting his departure.

"Yes, there's nothing more I need to tell you all. Take care and remember, you have almost found all the warriors, and soon you will all be ready to face Xana and end him once and for all. Now farewell young ones." GW said as he faded away in a flash of light.

"He's amazing, I wish I had some equipment to study him. I can only imagine the physiology of his body. Is he made of pure energy, or some kind of substance that doesn't exist in our universe? Or maybe-" Deo rambled on again until Sam stopped him.

"Let's not worry about that right now Deo." Sam said to calm him down.

"Same here, let's go downstairs and eat, I'm starving." Kairaree said as they began to make they're way out of the room and down too the mess room.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Jack and Joegon and Bishop sat in the dining room of the royal family with food and dishes you would expect royalty to eat. Jack has long since changed out of his clothes into something more formal of royalty wear. Joegon went over a mental list of things that Jack had to do tomorrow, most of it involving his study's. Jack quietly ate his dinner as Joegon's words fell on deaf ears.

"Take it down a notch, the boy's gonna drop dead before noon with how much work your giving him." Bishop said, pointing his fork at Jack.

"Why are you eating with us again?" Joegon asked. "And besides, he's behind from today's shenanigans, and he needs to catch up." Joegon added from his higher chair since he's an Imp.

"Awww, look at the wittle baby in his highchair." Bishop teased as he tried to wipe Joegon's face with his clothe napkin in a mock manner.

"St- stop you muscle head, it isn't funny!" Joegon snapped back as he smacked his hand away.

Jack put his fork and knife down and stood up from the table. "I'll excuse myself, I'm finished." Jack simply said as he turned and walked away before they could say anything.

"Poor Jack... ah, to be that age again. Teens can be so complex." Bishop said as he took a piece of food from the unsuspecting Joegon's plate with his fork while he wasn't looking.

"Oh I'm getting to old for this kind of thing. Mother was right, maybe I should have been an accountant." Joegon said as he looked down at his plate and noticed some of his food was missing as he then shot a glance at Bishop, and saw him chewing on his stolen food as Bishop simply shrugged back at him with a little smile.

()()()()()()()()()()

Jack walked the halls of his castles living area. He passed some guards who were on the patrol routes. They either stopped to let him pass, or bow to him, or say 'Good evening my lord.' or 'Your Majesty.' and even 'Hail Prince Jack.' but Jack simply nod or thanked them as he walked on. Finally he got to one of his favorite balcony's. He walked out and overlooked the city that he often wondered what the past king's and queen's were thinking as they held Excalion in they're hands. He leaned over the rail as the moons illuminated the area so bright that he didn't need to use any lights as the cool night breeze blew softly.

"I've lived in this castle all my life and now it seems like it is becoming my prison. There are few who would deny that I am one of the best at what I do, from my study's and magical ability's, and my talent's are even known far and wide." Jack said as he looked out into the city.

"I excel without even a try with my powers, and cast spells with a simple wave of my hands. Yet year after year since the loss of my parents, I've have grown so tired of this place I call home. Somewhere deep inside of me, an emptiness began to grow. There's something out there far from my home. A longing that I've never known, something that I need in my life." Jack went on as he began to walk around the balcony as his tone got sadder.

"But who here, would ever understand, that the Prince of Arthurlot would tire of his crown? If they only understood, I would give it all up if I only could. There's an empty place inside of my heart that calls out for something unknown. The fame and praise come year after year just isn't the same, and does nothing for my empty tears." Jack finished as he walked back inside of the castle and used his magic to close and lock the doors without even making a gesture as tears began to form at his eyes.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Far from the city on a lone road. Three large military like trucks were stopped at a checkpoint as a Lizardin officer looked at an ID of the front truck driver.

"And what are you carrying again sir?" He asked the Human driver with a Arachun co-driver.

"Just some equipment for a base near by, it's in the capital city of Arthurlot. My clearance code should verify it." The driver replied.

Another Cataranion officer typed up the information on his computer in the room of the large checkpoint building. He typed a little more until he raised his head and shook it, giving the officer the all clear signal.

"Alright then, your cleared to go. Drive safe." The officer said as he waved for them to go.

"Thank you sir, have a nice night." The human driver said as he began too drive away. After the checkpoint was out of site, the driver turned on the monitor that was built into the dashboard and flipped to a channel. "We got pass the checkpoint master Ukai, how are you doing back there?" The driver asked. The screen was black except for the same red glowing eyes that was in Xana's chamber the other day.

"I will be doing better, once I have the head's of the fools that deify Lord Xana. He will reward my loyalty, but first we must track them down and find them before they find the next warrior and become more of a problem. But it won't matter soon, they're lives will me mine!" The growling voice of Ukai chuckled as the capital city and it's lights glowed in the distance. Unaware the heroes were as a new threat got closer and closer to them.

**END CHAPTER.**


	18. JACK OF ALL TRADES

**CHAPTER 18: JACK OF ALL TRADES**

DAY 14

the gang woke up as their usual routine with the hopes of at least getting in touch with Prince Jack before convincing him to join them. "Well guys, lets celebrate two weeks of being on a new planet with a big breakfast downstairs." Odd said to the waking gang.

"I think the people downstairs are still a little mad at you for how much you ate last night." Ulrich said as he put his top on.

"Either way, we need to get moving. Prince Jack isn't going to find himself." William said as he picked up his sword. So with that the gang began they're new day.

()()()()()()()()

Jack woke up in his room at his usual time. His room was almost the size of a large living room. His bed was much larger then normal, almost a queen size with a vale structure around his bed for decoration. Clear across from him was a large elegant desk where his books were stacked. His walls had a number of decorations on it, from shields with two swords crossed behind them and the kingdom crest over his bed. The morning sun shined in and lighted up the whole room from the very large and reinforced glass and metal window as he walked over to look out over the city before he walked into his walk-in closet to fetch his casual royal wears, which was a pair of black pants and a white double button up long-sleeve shirt with a large collar and simple black boots and a band for his hair. He walked over to a secret part of his closet and moved some hanged clothes to look at a pile of clothes that he had hidden for a very special reason before covering them up again and heading out of his closet.

He then walked over to a few of his shelves to take a quick look at a photo of him when he was just a little boy in the arms of his mother, holding him with a smile of pure bliss with his fathers arm over his mother and a hand on Jack's shoulder as if he was protecting them with his life. Jack smiled a little and looked over the other shelves that held a number of items from books to childhood toys, and a few detailed model kits of ships and castles, and even one of a dragon. Finally Jack left his room and took a quick look of the halls before making his way out.

"Where is your crown young prince?" Joegon's voice called out as Jack stopped in his tracks.

"Well good morning to you too, Joegon." Jack replied with a little wave.

"You know you need to wear your crown, it is tradition, and you know that you don't need to where it all the time. Just during the day. Now please go retrieve it." Joegon asked as he pointed toward the door with his staff. Jack made a small sigh and walked back into his room and went over to the pedestal with a velvet pillow on it with a golden open crown, with a red ruby on the crest, and two small green and blue gems on the sides. He picked it up and put it on. The crown hugged his head perfectly since all crowns are made to specifications of each royal family. He then walked back out to the waiting Joegon at his door.

"Good, now onto today's schedule. First you will have breakfast, then you have a study class with prof. Varis, then you can have a short break. Then you have a study session in advanced magic and alchemy. And then-" Joegon went on as Jack once again tuned out his words as he followed him down the hall.

()()()()()()()()()()

The gang have left the lodge after almost being forced out because of Odd eating a lot of food, although Aracane didn't help much either. They began to follow the amulets path hoping to find the prince Jack.

"So what is the plan again Aelita?" Knulgen asked, although he really wasn't paying much attention as he held his hands behind his head.

"It's like GW said, we just need to trust the amulet and hope it leads us to him." Aelita replied as she looked at the amulet more closely.

"We've been walking for awhile, where are we anyway?" Deotalus asked the gang. They walked into a small area with stone walls and pillars and with only a few normal buildings around them.

"Wow, we need to really be more alert when we are following the amulets path." Odd said as he took in his surroundings.

"Look, the amulets pointing to that wall over there." Kairaree said as she pointed to a wall in the shadows as she took a quick look at the amulet too. Everyone gathered around as they looked at the dark gray stone wall in the shadows.

"Okay, somehow I think Jack is not behind this wall." Leadonus said as he looked on with curiosity.

"It must be a fake wall, or secret entrance and escape. It would only make sense for people of that importance to have a way to get out in case of an emergency." Jeremie said to them.

"Yeah it would, but the problem is, that castle is over fifteen miles from the city's boarders and we're still a few miles form the damn city boarders." Ralfaius said with frustration.

"Then we're going to have a long day of walking ahead of us." Yumi replied.

Z walked over to the wall and took out his collapsible baton and unsparing it and began to tap around. From the sound of it, there was a hollow wall behind it, but the wall was still a few feet thick as he continue to tap, looking for a way to get in. finally Z bent down and felt around the bricks at the very bottom until he found a loose brick. He gently pushed it until they all heard a loud click and they all stood back and watched as the wall sink in then slide to the side as a gust of dusty wind blew out. "Found it." Z simply said.

"So we're really going in? What about security systems, and whatever else they got?" Eli'ton said as he made his helmet unfold onto his face as if he was expecting a battle.

"No there wont be. They wouldn't want anyway of someone finding it, that includes electronic devices that can be traced. This tunnel might be as old as the castle." Z said as he took out a bent flashlight and put it in a loop on the front of his coat pocket while the others took out flashlights and leftover glow-sticks in their own packs.

"Cool! Glow-sticks!" Miodelus said as he began to wave them around.

"Please don't use them until we're in the tunnel Mio." William said as he took out his own flashlight.

"Okay then guys, let's head on to adventure." Odd said as they all filled in. Z then pushed another brick that stood out from the rest and the wall closed on them as they began to walk down the long tunnel.

Hidden away in the shadows stood a human man that had a small bandana over his mouth. He pulled out a communicator from his pocket. "Have them bring the trucks around, I found the little bastards and where they're going. Tell master Ukai that we have them cornered."

()()()()()()()()()

The inside of the tunnel while not massive, but it was big enough for five of them to walk side by side with enough room to move. The tunnel roof was over ten feet tall with brick mason stones and floor. Odd even found an old torch and begged Z to light it to feel medieval, and Z finally caved in so he could shut him up.

"I don't suppose any of us have a plan on how we're gonna tell this guy if we do find him, do you guys?" William asked.

"We'll just tell him the truth. After all, you managed to get us on your side, and we thought you were all a little crazy." Leadonus said with a confident tone.

"Except for Mio, he's just about as crazy as your story when we first heard of it." Ralfaius said while Mio gave him a glare.

"Save your energy guys, looks like we still got a long walk ahead of us today." Ulrich added as they continued to walk.

()()()()()()()()()()

Jack finally finished his first class as the hours passed. He managed to give Joegon the slip and sneak into the training grounds. Most of the guards were either somewhere else or taking a break. He walked around as some of the guards either bowed and let him pass, or give him the usual greeting. He then walked onto a training ring where the men and women would practice, and even hold small contests

"Heads up Jack!" A voice called out to him as a simple guard sword landed next to him, the blade stuck in the ground. Jack picked up the sword and looked over to where Bishop was standing with a training sword since his normal sword was made of a far more stronger material, and would shatter the sword Jack has with ease.

"I was hoping I would find you here, I need to blow off some steam." Jack said as he grabbed the sword and took a few practice swings.

"I figured you would be here. I knew that old Imp would give you a mountain size pile of studies, and I know a little sword play helps you out." Bishop replied as he approached him.

"He's not that old, at least in Imp years. They do live a little longer." Jack said as he took his stance.

"Well he was your grandfather's adviser when your father was little." Bishop continued as he took his stance as well. They stood there for a few seconds until they both moved at the same time. Their swords clashed as they then pushed off and began they're routine. Jack countered and repel Bishops attacks and even made his own attacks as they continued their practice.

Jack knew that Bishop was an Elite Swordsman, and he knew that if he was an enemy, Bishop would most likely have killed him. Bishop has in the past, charged into battle and took out more enemy soldiers with his sword and lance then with using firearms, and he even easily rivals Jack's father when he's not using the power of the Excalion. They stopped to catch their breath as they walked around each other with they're swords ready.

"Excellent Jack, you get better and better with each practice." Bishop said with a smile as he charged and struck again. "But remember, there's no way of telling how your enemy's will attack you. Always be prepared for the lowest forms of attack and deception, like this!" Bishop said as he tripped Jack onto his back and held his sword over his head.

"You're right Bishop, like this too." Jack replied as he kicked Bishops legs out from under him. They both then rolled back onto they're feet to begin again. After an hour or so they finally stopped, they were a little winded from their nonstop practice.

"I suppose you need to get back to your study's before Joegon come's looking for you. I never would think someone that little would be so loud." Bishop said as he put the swords back on the sword holder near one of the barracks.

"I will, I just need to do something first." Jack said as he finished dusting himself off and straighten out his clothes and began to walk off.

"Jack, just to let you know. I know you will be a great swordsmen one day." Bishop simply said as he left to do his usual rounds. He always gives random advise or praise which everyone has heard from him at least once.

()()()()()()()()()

Jack entered the castle and walked the halls as he looked at the vast decoration until he bumped into someone. The person he bumped into was one of the head chefs, Lanura. She was a tall but a little plump middle age Human women with reddish curly hair and black eyes. She was wearing chef clothes of the royal cooks, which was greenish pants and a red and yellow double button up top chef wear with the royal cook emblem on the left topside with a white apron and wearing a long bonnet like wear on her head.

"Oh hello Jack, how are you today?" she asked. She is a very cheery woman to be around, and she is like an aunt to Jack and is one of the most trusted people in the castle. Ever since Jack was little, he would always come into the massive kitchen when he could to watch her cook. She would put him on a counter near her station and let him watch her and the others cook, and when it was his birthday she would always outdo herself with an amazing cake for him and the guests.

"I'm doing fine Lanura. I'm just avoiding Joegon for a little bit." Jack replied.

"Oh that Joegon, he puts too much work on himself, and becomes such a grouch. I think I'll put extra pepper in his food tonight." Lanura said as she thought to herself.

"Well if you see him, send him on a wild goose chase. I need to go do something now." Jack replied as he continued down the halls.

"I always do, take care Jack." She called out as Jack gave her a wave.

()()()()()()()()()

Jack finally made it to where he was going. He pushed open the massive, but surprisingly light doors to show the throne room. It's marvelous marble floors and beautiful stain-glass window roof made the whole room shine with it's elegant pillars near the walls for support and look, with banners that mark the periods and rules of the kingdom across the walls. Jack walked the long carpeted floor that lead straight to the elevated steep that had the twin thrones that sat side by side with each other, fit for a King and Queen. Behind it was a drape that Jack walked to the side and opened the curtain.

Behind it was a large painting of Jack when he was a boy, dressed in a traditional prince wear with his parents. His father Beo looked like a older version of Jack, but still youthful looking with black eyes and black hair slicked back, and was dressed in a traditional King wear with his crown and cape and some armor plating. He held the sword in one hand and had it facing down. Next to him was his wife Morgan who had the same violet eyes like Jack with lighter black long hair, but with some streaks of white and even a little silver. She was wearing a traditional Queen wear that was similar to her husband and she had her hands over Jack's shoulders with her husbands other hand behind her. They stood close to each other as Jack remembered the hours spent posing for the painter as was always what each new generation of royal family does.

Jack then turned and looked at what he really came for. Between the thrones was a stone pedestal that had the blade of Excalion standing about a quarter of a way in. Jack will never forget the day when he was told his parents were gone as he watched Bishop walk into the throne room holding the sword and put it in it's pedestal. It was the first time he ever saw Bishop so sad and he could tell that he had shed tears of pain and failure over the lost of their beloved King and Queen, and a guilt that he wished he could have done something to help or prevented it.

Jack walked over to the magical sword and looked it over as he had done so many times. The handle was long enough to be held with two hands with long guards pointing out to the sides, and in the center was a slanted eye shape which was known as the eye of Arthurlot, and when opened showed a crystal like red eye with a golden iris look to it. The blade was almost half a foot wide and over six feet long with a sharp pointed end with half circles on the blades sides a few inches from the point. **(A/N: To give you readers a better idea, it's shape and length is a lot like Dante's sword from the Devil May Cry game series, but instead of the demon skull and ribs, it's that eye I just wrote)**

Jack walked up to it and looked it over very close. He remembered his father told him that every first born would be the wielder of the blade and it's tremendous power and, would rule the kingdom which meant the successor could either be a man or woman, which was rare in most kingdoms in the ancient ages.

Jack slowly reached his hand out and before he could get any closer, he stopped as if it would hurt him or something. But continued to slowly wrapped his fingers around it until he had a solid grip on the blades long handle. He then began to pull up on it, but the sword didn't even budge as he then grabbed it with both hands and began to pull. After a few times he gave up and once again remembered another thing that his father told him. Even though it's in they're blood to wield the Excalion, they must make themselves worthy of wielding it and its power.

Jack then sat down in front of it in defeat while he looked at it as his face reflected off the blade. "What do I need to do, to become worthy of wielding it?" Jack asked himself as he then laid back on the rugged floor. As an hour passed, Jack kept drifting in out of consciousness until a loud voice called out to him.

"Jack! Prince Jack! Where are you? You're late for your next study." Joegon called out from behind the door across from Jack. He quickly jump up and ran to a wall near the throne and pulled an old fashion torch holder that has long been since obsolete. He looked over to the door one more time as he heard Joegon call out for him again as a door opened with a flight of stairs and even lights built into the sides of the stairs. For what reason Joegon never thought to look into the many secret tunnels the castle had when he was looking for him, Jack will never know since he used the tunnels more times to escape the castle then any other means as he made his way down the stairs as the door closed and Jack walked down into the deep ruins of old.

()()()()()()()()()

After a few hours of walking the long tunnel and Knulgen getting jittery of being in closed spaces, the gang came up to another wall in front of them. "Looks like it's another wall, I'll look for a lever or something else cliché." Z said as he began to look for a way to get in.

"Hey guys, what time is it anyway?" Odd asked as he flicked his flashlight on and off.

"It's a little before noon, you can handle a little hunger Odd." Deotalus said as he look at his watch.

Z found a brick and pushed it. The wall began to open as they all look in. The place had a number of old broken walls and pillars and other things you would expect from an old ruin. They looked up to see where the light was coming from, there was an opening that must have been an old well that has been long since unused, and the roof around the hole was solid dirt and support beams all across it to hold the roof up, and the very roof seemed over three stories high from the massive cavern filled with old ruins.

"What the hell is this place?" Knulgen asked them.

"This must be some of the castles old ruins, but the new parts have been built over it as the ages passed. I bet that some of these ruins go back as far as the age before Arthurlot was found." Deotalus said as he continued to look at the ruins.

"Is the amulet pointing up Aelita?" Yumi asked her.

"No, it's still pointing straight. I think Jack is near." Aelita replied as she walked away from the group. They tried to tell her to hold on, but she got too far from them as she navigated through the ruins until she entered a narrow area with some roof work over her head. She continued to walk as she looked at the amulet very closely until a bright white light made her look up just before she bumped into something and fell to the ground.

"What in the name of the gods?" A voice yelled out. Aelita pushed herself into a sitting position and picked up the amulet and looked over to see the person they were looking for. "You really hit me there dead on." Jack chuckled as he rubbed his head.

They both then looked at each other realizing who each other was. Jack noticed her from the other day as he used her for his final trick and Aelita noticed that he was the person they were looking for. "I know you. You're the young girl from the other day. Aelita right? How did you get in here?" Jack asked her as he got up and held his hand out to her. She took his hand and let him pull her up.

"You're the street magician from the other day. I glad we managed to find you." Aelita replied to him.

"You... were looking for me? What could you possibly want with me, and what do you mean by we?" Jack ask as they heard foot patter coming their way. The gang filed in to see her.

"Aelita, are you okay? You shouldn't walk off on us like-" Jeremie stopped as they look and saw Jack standing there, trying to figure out what's going on.

"Who are you people, and how did you get in here? This tunnel access is a secret, and the only way in is through the entrance or the exit in the city." Jack said as he looked over the gang.

"We found our way in with the guide of this amulet. We're a gang of warriors, and for the last two weeks we've gathered a number of warriors like you to join our cause." Aelita once again explained.

"I see, can I look at this amulet?" Jack asked as he held out his hand. Aelita gave it to him as he looked it over and watched the arrow follow him. "I can sense a power coming from this amulet, but nothing like I've never felt before. Okay, I'm guessing there's a whole story to this isn't there?" Jack asked as he gave it back.

"Yeah there is, but lets find a place where we can talk and tell you everything." Ulrich said to him.

"Follow me, I've been in this cavern many times. There's a bunch of fallen pillars that we can sit down on." Jack replied.

"Wait, there was a light when I bumped into you, where did it come from?" Aelita asked.

"Oh that, that's a simple light orb magic." Jack said as he held his hand up. "Illuma." Jack said as a small orb of light formed in his hand and began to float in the air. The gang looked impressed as the orb made the room much brighter. "Follow me." Jack said as he began to lead the way.

"Yes your Majesty." Knulgen said in a sarcastic tone which made Aracane elbow him a little in the ribs.

Everyone followed Jack to a spot where some fallen pillars were. Jack then made the orb fly up a little and have it hang over them as they sat down and took a moment. "Alright then, let's start with names and then you can tell me what is going on." Jack said to them. So once again the gang told Jack everything, the Earth born members and they're battles with Xana, and then being sent to Earthera and them being chosen by fate to find the others and defeat Xana for good. Jack sat there as he took in everything he was just told. The others looked at him as they remembered being told about this which seemed like so long ago.

"Amazing, and this Guardian Warrior comes everytime you get a new warrior join your group?" Jack asked them.

"Pretty much sums it up." Kairaree shrugged.

"I know, we had a hard time believing them too, but after that attack on us at sea. We now know there is a lot more to this then what we dealt with." Leadonus said, speaking for his brothers.

"And now that I think of it, I wouldn't be surprised if Xana's army was the one that attacked our allies clan all those years ago." Bel'la added.

"Hmm, I can tell that you all are telling the truth, and this Xana really sound dangerous. And from what you told me and his power to possess people and objects and manipulate them into doing all kinds of things. And the last thing we need is for him to get his hands on all the powerful magic this world has. There's no telling what he will do. And I do have a responsibility to the people of my kingdom and beyond." Jack said as he pondered his options. "Then in that case, I accept. I will join you all." Jack said to them.

Some of them cheered and applaud him, and even Odd came up to pat him on the back while Z simply nodded. "Although to be honest, I would be lying if I said I am only doing this to help my land. I've been locked up in this castle ever since my parents passed away and every now and then, I escape from the castle just to see what the outside is like. That's why I was acting as a street performer. I just hope you don't think of me any different after what I said." Jack continued a little bit embarrassed by his statement.

"That's okay, we would all be lying too if we said that we we're only doing it to stopping Xana. To be honest, we we're going a little stir-crazy on our ship anyway." Leadonus said.

"I really had nowhere to be anyway, so I decided to tag along." Aracane added.

"Same here, I wanted to see the world, and these guy's have shown me a lot in only two weeks." Kairaree added as well.

"I'm looking for someone to settle a score." Knulgen simply said.

"They promised to help us find a way to help our people." Bel'la said.

"So we in exchange, we joined them in their battle." Eli'ton finished.

"I needed a break from the Zarcanions myself." Z added.

"Then in that case, let's head back up to the main castle and into my room, I need to get something and... try to get the Excalion to let me wield it." Jack said as he turned around and began to lead them up the stairs.

"Wait, what do you mean get the Excalion to let you wield it?" Sam asked curiously.

"It's a long story, I'll tell you all when we get there." Jack replied as they followed him up the stairs. They all exited the secret stairway and Jack slowly looked out before letting them all into the throne room.

"This is a throne room? More like a temple within a castle!" Odd said as he took in his surroundings.

"Yes it is pretty big. Now quickly, follow me to my room. The amount of guards should be minimal, and there are not much guards in the royal living areas anyway." Jack said as he and the gang went to the massive door that leads out into the hall. As they closed the entrance door behind them, the secret door near the throne slowly opened and a pair of red eyes shinned through the dark with a low growl being made.

()()()()()()()()()

"Why do we need to follow you to your room? We can wait here." William asked.

"It's because of Joegon. He's the royal adviser and I kinda skipped my study's for a while, and if he sees me he will throw a fit. Plus he might come check in the throne room again." Jack answered as they began to make they're way down the massive halls.

The gang was taken aback by the beautiful architecture and decoration. The Surfane brothers had to keep watch on Miodelus since he kept touching the stuff and even almost knocked over a head bust. The guards were either not in the halls, or just left their post. As they continued to walk down the hall as quietly as possible for a group of eighteen. They were almost to Jack's room until.

"Stop right there! Who are you all? How did you get in here?!" The gang turned around and saw two guards standing behind them with their guns ready. One was Human while the other was Arachun.

Well? How did you get in here?" The other demanded. All kinds of thoughts were running through the gangs heads as they tried to think of an excuse. But what could they say? They were by all rights intruders. It was then that Jack made his way to the front of them. "Prince Jack! What are you doing? Get away from them, they're intruders." The first guard said as he waved for Jack to come over to them.

"It's alright guards, they're with me." Jack said to the guards.

"They're with you? How?" The other guard asked.

"They are... my personal bodyguards hired by Bishop to protect me. He preferred some people around my age." Jack continued.

"Why didn't Bishop inform us of this? Such a huge decision requires informing the guards of these changes." The guard wondered.

"Well you know Bishop, he's full of surprises. Now if you don't mind, I need to show them to my room so they can know where to find it in case of emergency." Jack explained.

"Ummm, okay then, carry on your majesty." The guard said as they bowed and turn to leave.

"Oh and guards, let's keep this a secret with the other guards. We'll put up a post for them to see." Jack called out to them.

"Understood Prince Jack." They replied as they finally left.

"That was too close, we need to get what you need and leave." Knulgen said.

"I can't just leave without saying a word. They need to at least know I will be safe." Jack replied.

"You do know our journeys will be filled with danger and trouble, and even the possibility of death, right?" Z asked him.

"I do, but they don't need to know that, at least not right away." Jack replied as they continued down the hall. Finally they made it to his room and he told them to make themselves at home as he went in his walk in closet. The sound of clothes and boots being moved around as they waited for him. Finally he walked out and showed them his new clothes.

His boots were black with long straps and buckles all the way up with big flaps around the top of his boots that went up to his knees. His pants were black but a little thicker. His top was a long sleeve with armor straps around the stomach area for flexibility and protection. The chest seemed like a cross between a tux and armor as the slant in the middle had some white as the outer part hooked and locked like a coat with armor plating in it. And the sleeve area too had armor plating with leather gloves that had gray color on the knuckles and a large gray collar flap that was shaped almost like a web that went around the entire back of the collar. All in all, his clothes looked like a cross between light armor and a goth-punk look, but still didn't look intimidating or creepy. And finally he took off his crown and put it back on the rest near his desk.

"We defiantly have a theme going on here." Yumi laughed a little.

"So now that your ready, what do we need to do now?" Ulrich asked.

"Now we need to make our way back to the throne room and see if I can get the Excalion to let me wield it." Jack said as he checked over his clothes one more time.

"Why is it the Excalion won't let you use it?" Z asked.

"I maybe the one chosen to wield the Excalion, but I must also become worthy of wielding it like my father and ancestors before me." Jack replied.

"How do you become worthy of wielding it?" William asked.

"To be honest, I don't know." Jack answered as they left the room. They then made they're way back to the throne room and thankfully didn't run into any trouble this time. They walked back up to the throne area and Jack then stood in front of the sword twice in one day as reached his hand out to it. He grabbed the handle and began to pull. Once again the sword didn't even budge as the others sat down or paced around in various places as Jack began to pull away. After about fifteen minutes of pulling at the blades handle as the gang was getting a tad impatient.

"Maybe you need some oil or something to get it loose." Miodelus said with one finger raised, which got him a slap up side the head by Ralfaius.

"It's not stuck, it's held down by magic, and is beyond too heavy for anyone to wield in this condition." Jack said between grunts as he pulled and pulled but he then stopped and took a break.

"Well whatever reason the sword won't come out, you need to figure it out so we can leave and find the next warrior." Jeremie added.

"Hey guys, did we leave the secret door open when we left this room?" Odd asked as everyone looked over to see the door wide open which made everyone concern.

"This is very strange, I know we closed it." Aracane said to them.

"Not as strange as you all!" A voice yelled out which got their attention. "You all look like the beginning of a bad joke. And as for finding the next warrior, you all won't even leave this castle alive." The voice growled.

"Who's there? Show yourself now!" Z demanded as he draw his gun.

Just then, the sound of heavy thudding was heard above them as the person or whoever he was is above them in the alcoves as a shadow began to jump from pillar to pillar until the figure landed far from them and when the gang managed to get a look at him, they were all shocked at what they are seeing.

The person that was in front of them was not a person. Instead he was a beast like no other, he was over seven feet tall with a grayish and pinkish-red color to his skin and covered in muscles all over his body. His head was almost like a dog but with a long face and long perked ears with red iris eyes that had a glow to it. His teeth stuck out a little from his mouth and at the end of his dog like snout was two long and hard points of skin that at first glance would look like saber teeth but they were just long skin and he had small numbly spines that went down his neck and back. His upper body was massively wide and his ten fingered hands had sharp claws that could retract. His lower body was more narrow and his legs were long and slender and double jointed like a dog with only three big toes with long claws on each foot that are elevated, and his tail was very long and thin like a whip with a heavy head at the end.

Everyone stood there unsure of what they should do because from the look on the Earthera born members faces, they didn't know what this creature was either. "Who the fuck are you?" Knulgen asked as he draw his sword.

"_chuckle, _I am Ukai. Lord Xana's most trusted right hand warrior, and the last thing you all will ever see today." He replied with another chuckle.

"What are you? I've never seen a being like you before." Jack asked the beast Ukai.

"I am power, I am perfection, I am superior compared to you simpletons. And you will all die now!" Ukai roared as he then got on all four and charged at them and moved like some kind of tiger-dog hybrid.

Jeremie and Aelita stood away in a corner to stay out of the way.

"Whoa wait a minute, aren't you gonna monologue or other super villain stuff?" Miodelus asked which got him a clonk on the head by Deotalus.

"This is life or death Mio. Not one of your comics." Z said as he then began to open fire on the lumbering beast, but he jump up onto a pillar and leaped to the next as Z fired away. He then did a quick draw with his other main handgun and managed to get Ukai in the side of his thigh which made him jump back to the ground and ran off into a different direction behind some more pillars. As he got behind one, his ears perked up as he moved just in time as the curved blade of Knulgen's sword hit the pillar while Ukai began to back away from his wild swings before finally catching him by the wrist of his sword arm.

"Ha ha, now that I have you, I will snap your arm like twi-ohhh!" Before Ukai could finish, Knulgen kneed him right in the groin area which made him let go of Knulgen's arm. "You little bastard!"

"Hey I'm just glad that worked, since you don't seem to have a dick. I figured this was my only shot, good thing I was right." Knulgen said with a smile.

"I have a 'dick' and I have already had enough of you!" Ukai roared as he grabbed Knulgen by the collar and threw him into Ulrich and William who caught him and fell to the ground hard.

The Surfane brothers then surrounded him with they're weapons ready as Ukai stood there. He then leaped at Leadonus who swung his scythe but missed him as the beast knocked him to the ground, but his brothers attacked from behind as Deo thrust his trident at the creature, but Ukai ducked and rolled out from under his trident as Ral then ran up and began to stab at him with his sais. But Ukai then knocked him away with his tail just as Mio then jumped onto his shoulders and began to whack away with his nun-chucks.

"Ha ha ha, how do you like the fury of my nun-chuck power?!" Miodelus boasted as he continued to attack. Ukai roared with anger as he grabbed him and pulled Mio off his shoulders and tossed him into his brothers.

Bel'la and Eli'ton decided it was their turn to take a crack at him as Bel'la used her staff-blade to keep Ukai back while Eli'ton charged after him from behind with his arm blades ready, but Ukai quickly grabbed Bel'las staff and pulled her, making her fall down while he turned and grabbed Eli'ton by his helmeted head and began to squeeze as Eli tried to fight his way out.

"I'll crush you like food in a can." Ukai chuckled as Eli began to fell the pressure on him. Z then yelled to catch Ukai's attention as he sliced at Ukai's large right arm with his curved machete, which made Ukai let go of Eli'ton and as he turned. Bel'la had her staff over her shoulders to gain momentum and swung her staff out at him, hitting him hard in the chest making a small cut since he backed away too soon for her to make any real damage.

Aracane jumped in with his double bladed ax, swing away at the hulking beast. "So your with Xana? Tell us where he is and we might let you live." Aracane demanded as he continued to fight him.

"It wont matter if I tell you because you will all die by my hands!" Ukai roared as he kicked Aracane away with his powerful legs. Just then, Sam jumped in with her bladed tonfas as she attacked Ukai, but she underestimated him as he tail whipped her and made her fall to the ground. "You know, I almost fell sorry that I have to kill you. Almost... because you weren't even with them in the first place when they were on Earth." Ukai said as he raised his foot over her head and chuckled.

But before he could kill her, Odd made a furious tiger like roar and shot an arrow right into Ukai's leg which made him stumble back and then Odd unsheathed his claws and charged right at Ukai and made a four claw slice at Ukai's side, and then ran over to where Sam was and leaned down in front of her.

"If you ever try to hurt her again, I'll kill you!" Odd said as a low growl rumbled in his throat.

"Save it boy, you and your other Earth friends don't have it in you even if your lives depended on it." Ukai shot back as he pulled the arrow out of the lower part of his leg and threw it aside.

"Maybe not them, but I am willing." Kairaree shouted out as the chain of her kusarigama like weapon wrapped around his neck and pulled him to the ground. She then jumped with her main dagger in one hand and the bladed end of her chain weapon in the other as she jumped for his head. But Ukai rolled out just in time and unwrapped the chain and began to pull her towards him. Then one of Yumi's fan-blades flew past him, barley missing his nose as the weapon flew back into Yumi's heavy padded glove as she threw it again at him.

Ukai ducked but Yumi came at him with her short sword and missed the side of his cheek, making only a small cut as he pushed her away, leaving him open for Ulrich and William with their swords, but Ukai jumped up into the air as the boys swords hit the ground, breaking some of the marble tile floor but then began to attack him again as Ukai landed back on the ground and fought back.

"They're fighting him, and here I am just standing around and unable to fight back. I need to get the Excalion." Jack said to himself and ran back to the pedestal. "Come on, come on please. I need to help them, I need to protect them please. Please grant me the power to protect my friends!" Jack said as he pulled the sword with all his might.

_'pulsation'_ The eye of Jack's sword began to open _'pulsation'_ the eye got wider as the red of it glowed brighter and brighter. _'pulsation'_ The sword began to slowly slide up, making a slight screeching noise as the blade began to come out. _'pulsation'_ Everyone and even the beast Ukai stopped fighting as they noticed the blade was almost out. Even Jack noticed the blade finally began to come out of it's rest as the pulsations of the sword began to connect to him.

"No! That is the blade of Arthurlot, the Excalion! If he takes control, his powers will grow. I must end him now!" Ukai roared and charged after Jack.

"Jack! Look out!" Aelita yelled, but Ukai got to far from them already.

"He's coming after you!" Jeremie yelled next.

The sword was finally released from it's long slumber as Jack held the blade up and looked at the eye of his sword as it stared back at him, as if it was reading his very soul while Jack stood in a almost trance like state. Ukai lunged at him as Jack suddenly noticed Ukai's attack as the beast jumped at him like a lion pouncing on it's prey, but Jack then noticed swung his sword at Ukai with a flash of light from the blade, and hit Ukai dead center in the chest which made Ukai fly back with a trail of lightning and a large cut on his chest and landed right next to the hidden stairway, hitting the ground hard and breaking some of the floor with it. Ukai slowly picked himself up and looked over to them. He made a light roar and ran into the secret stairway.

"We need to go after him, who knows what he's doing down there." Z said as they all silently agreed and ran down the stairs. Unknown to the gang, the throne room doors slowly opened.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang ran down the stairs with Aelita and Jeremie in the back. Finally they made it to the secret cavern with the old well hole high above them, they had their weapons ready for the beast Ukai.

"Got you all now!" Ukai roared as the gang looked over to see Ukai and forty armed men in black military like armor, pointing they're guns at them. Bel'la and Eli'ton had looks of pure anger as painful memory's flashed through their minds of that day when those strange attackers on they're allies clan, and the day they lost they're parents.

"Take cover now guys!" Z yelled as he pulled out a grenade and pulled the pin and threw it at them. The soldiers jumped away as the grenade exploded, scattering them.

"Looks like the rats are scattering, take them out." Aracane yelled as he charged and took down three of them in one swing.

Leadonus attacked and spun his scythe and took down two in one swirling swing and threw his scythe at one and impaled him through the chest. He pulled out his battle sickles and disarmed one guard and then cut his throat in one strike, and then killed the one standing next to him with a double strike.

Bel'la took down four with her staff-blade as she spun around them with the blade of her weapon and then drove her blade into the chest of the last one as it ran right through him and his armor. Eli'tons armor protected him from they're bullets as he cut right through one soldier into his chest, then drove the blade of his other arm-blade into the neck of the one standing next to him in one swift motion as blood sprayed a little on his visor.

Knulgen had no problem taking action as he swung his sword with wild vigor and took down seven of them in no time.

Jack raised his sword at eye level as he watched his friends fight the enemy, even though they were making progress, they were still overpowered by the amount of enemy forces. In one deep breath he charged to the nearest one who turned to him and raised his gun ready to fire, but it was too late. Jack ran his blade right through the chest of the enemy soldier as blood began to spill out of the slits of the mask as Jack pulled the sword out and the now dead man fell to the ground with blood pooling around his body, Jack had took his first life. Two more guards tried to take him out from behind with long combat blades, but Jack swung around and sliced them down with one swing. More came after him, but his strikes were lethal as three more fell at his feet, Bishop had taught him well.

Z was fighting four at once with hand-to-hand combat. He already managed to disarm them while they tried to take him down, but Z was too good for them to get a solid punch on him. They finally managed to get on top of him. But before they could really hurt him, he rolled out from under them. As he got up and ran away from them and near a large fallen pillar. He turned to them and raised his right hand. The enemy soldiers we're confused as to what he was doing until Z opened his hand and several pins fell to the ground, the soldiers looked down at their belts as they noticed a few of the grenades were missing the pins. "Oh fucking shit!" One of them yelled as the grenades exploded, ending them quick.

"Enough of this, I'm going to end this now." Ukai growled as he walked back over to the tunnel entrance and picked up a case. He opened it and assembled a rocket launcher with five missile fire. He chuckled as he aimed it at the distracted group that hung back so none of the enemy guards could get into the castle. He lined up the targeting cross-hair, his finger began to squeeze the trigger with a cruel smirk on his face. Just then, a whistling sound flew through the air as a lance struck Ukai in the shoulder, making him roar in pain and drop the weapon. This caught everyone's attention as Ukai pulled the weapon out of his shoulder. Everyone heard the sound of armored footsteps and looked to the stairs and saw Bishop walk down.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A strange looking beast with a missile launcher, Jack finally wielding the Excalion, a group of teens who clam to be hired by me to protect Prince Jack, and finally a bunch of soldiers with no marks or signs of who they're with or where their from? This is a really exciting day." Bishop finished as Jack had a look of busted on his face.

"An exciting day for you maybe, but this is a huge problem for all of us! We have a breach in the castles security, there's a beast running around with a dangerous weapon, the prince is risking his life, and finally there are a bunch of teens walking around the castle pretending to be the princes bodyguards!" Joegon yelled as he came from around Bishop.

"Bishop, Joegon, I know I have a lot to explain, but right now, we need to get this beast out of the castle, take on the guards while we finish him." Jack ordered.

"With pleasure your majesty, come on Joegon." Bishop said as he grabbed the Imp and ran.

"Wait, what?" Was all Joegon said as Bishop jumped and landed right in the middle of the rest of the enemy guards which were now down to half or so.

"Go help Jack, I can handle the rest of them." Bishop said and everyone nodded and ran from they're position and joined up with Jack as Bishop drew his sword. Before the guards could even attack, Bishop attacked them without effort. It's been a long time since Bishop had a real fight as his sword took them down one by one.

A few of the enemy soldiers surrounded Joegon and chuckled as they aimed their guns at him. "You think that just because I'm an Imp, you think I'm no threat? Well, taste the wrath of the flame dragon head of my staff!" Joegon yelled as he turned the staff to the dragon head side. It then seemed to come alive as it's eyes and mouth opened and a stream of fire blasted out of it's mouth like a flamethrower and hit the guards and caught on fire and screamed in pain. Joegon couldn't help but laugh a little as the enemy soldiers got what they deserved for underestimating him.

Ukai kept making a low growl as he opened some cases to assemble another weapon, but as he was distracted, a few bullets from Z's gun hit some of the cases, catching his attention. "It's over Ukai, give up now and we will let you live." Z said as he aimed for his head.

"It will never be over! Lord Xana now knows you all are here, and he's going to finish what he started where those assassins failed to end you. Yes that's right, Xana sent them to kill you all, to bad that muscle headed brute intervened." Ukai said while pointing to Aracane.

"I only wish I could do it again and have you there too." Aracane replied with his ax ready.

"Sooner or later Xana will find you, and he will end you all!" Ukai roared.

"Enough of this, you have overstayed your welcome in my castle. Time for you to leave, but first let me do the final trick I performed the other day." Jack said as he walked in front of them and put his sword into the ground and put his hands up as a flame began to grow. The ball of fire began to grow bigger and bigger until finally he thrust his hands out as the same dragon of pure fire came roaring out as Ukai's face contort in pure horror as the dragon struck him head on in his body and carry him out through the tunnel as the last thing they heard was Ukai screaming in pain all the way out of the long tunnel as the door to it closed.

Jack took a deep breath from using the powerful magic twice in only two days as he then picked up his sword and sheathed it onto his back as it seemed to hang on his back magically. He looked over to where Bishop and Joegon was as they finished off the remaining enemy troops. "It's now or never guys, we need to leave while their distracted and before the rest of the guards come." Jack said to them.

"Where can we go? We can't go out the way Ukai left." William said.

"I can't believe you guys who are carrying backpacks managed to fight with them, that's awesome." Miodelus randomly said.

"Why do you have to be so random sometimes?" Deotalus asked and Mio simply shrugged.

"Anyway, where do we need to go Jack?" Ulrich asked.

"Follow me, there happens to be another hidden path this way." Jack said as he lead them to another wall and made it open up. They followed him down the tunnel until after a few minutes they exited out of another wall and into a large area. There was a very long rectangular building in the middle of walled area with a gate at the end. They could hear loud chatter from the guards running around to secure the castle since they don't fully know what's going on, but followed they're standard routes.

"What is this place?" Jeremie asked.

"This is where the stables are, let's get inside quick." Jack informed as he lead them into a small door. Inside the stables was what you would find as the many horses stood in their pens.

"Cool, there's so many horses in here. Why does this castle have them?" Odd asked while petting a horse happily.

"Mostly for tradition and parade sake. Now let me show you all how to saddle up and ride horses." Jack said as he grabbed a saddle.

"Wait, we're gonna ride these horses out of here? I never even rode a horse before." William said.

"It's all right, it's easy once you get the hang of it." Jack replied as he showed them what they need to do. It was almost half an hour and Knulgen almost getting kicked in the chest by one horse until finally they had sixteen horses ready to go since they made Jeremie ride with Aracane and Aelita ride with Yumi. They all lined up the horses at the stable entrance and mounted on the steeds. "Alright guys, let's head out." Jack said as he made the doors to the stables open with magic, only to see Bishop standing in front of them.

"Oh shit..." Aracane muttered.

"Busted..." Knulgen added.

"Going somewhere Jack?" Bishop asked as he tapped his lance on his shoulder.

"Well I was... that is to say-" Jack tried to think of an excuse.

"Well whatever reason, you all better get going while the guards are busy, and before the castle goes on full lockdown." Bishop said as he pulled out a door lock mechanism and pressed the button. The doors at the other end of the walled area opened, revealing a straight path out since the stables are on the outside of the castle.

"I don't understand, why are you letting him go out?" Kairaree asked curiously.

"Let's just say, this has been a long time coming. Plus Jack needs to get out anyway. So get going before Joegon gets here and tries to stop you. And don't worry, we will take care of the enemies in the tunnel and close it up. And we will say it was a training drill to the guards and say that you went away for vacation too. So until we meet again my prince." Bishop said as he took a quick bow. "And as for you guys, protect him, after all I 'hired' you all to protect him." Bishop added and chuckled a little.

"No problem, as long as he protects us too." Aelita said to him.

"Then in that case Bishop, take care of yourself and tell Lanura I said good-bye. And give Joegon my regards as well. When he finally clams down that is." Jack said as he gave his friend a wave. He then made his horse whinny and raise it's front legs up as they all began to ride out the stables, and Jeremie holding hard onto Aracane as they all rode out on horseback. Jack finally gained the two things he wanted the most. A chance to see the world, and more importantly, friends. As they rode out, Joegon finally caught up with Bishop as they were finally out of site.

"I can't believe he's gone. All these years of keeping him safe and now he's off into the world filled with all kinds of danger. Oh what a bother this is." Joegon said as he watched the prince and his new friends ride away.

"Chin up Joegon, we knew this day was coming. The cogs of fate are in motion, and our prince now has a part to play. And when this is finally over, hopefully our world will be saved." Bishop relied.

"Let's just hope that when this is over, Prince Jack will still be the same person he is. A lot has already happened in the last few years, and there is still much he doesn't know about." Joegon said.

"We can only wait and see what happens, until then we need to make sure this kingdom still stands for what it means to all. Now let's go clean up the mess that we made, those dead bodies aren't going to get themselves out." Bishop said as he and Joegon walked away as the gates began to close.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Ukai's roar of pain could be heard from the open tunnel as he finally flew out and landed hard on the ground as the magic fire dragon dispersed away, and the door to the tunnel closed, leaving Ukai burnt and even smoking a little. His burns were amazingly not bad, but they were still very painful, but then again he wasn't a normal creature. The three drivers of the military like trucks ran over to where he was since they stayed to keep watch of the trucks so when the time came, they would leave. They tried to help him up but he waved them away since he didn't want to look weaker then he already does.

He got up and walked back into his trucks armored back that was filled with weapons. He sat down on a sitting area to catch his breath. His wounds will heal in no time, but there was something he was far more worried about. A beeping sound at a terminal began to ring near a computer area as his worst fear was realized. He walked over and slowly pressed the button on the keyboard as an image appeared on it. It was Xana and his symbol glowing in the same pitch black room.

"I saw everything on the soldiers video feed, you failed me Ukai. I expect better from you!" Xana's cruel voice rang out.

"Master, please forgive me, they were stronger then I thought. Please give me another chance, I will not fail you again." Ukai pleaded.

"Fortunately for you there is something you can do to earn my forgiveness. My search team has finally found an abandoned and hidden base very far from this city deep in the forest mountains that I've been looking for quite some time. Assist the team that is going there and find what I am looking for, then I might consider forgiving you." Xana ordered.

"Yes Lord Xana. I will leave out now." Ukai replied as Xana's screen went dark. Ukai then ordered the remaining men in his squad to leave out of the city without a moment to waste.

()()()()()()()

The heavy hoof-beats of the horses rang out as the gang rode farther from the castle grounds in no time. They will soon be passing the city boarders and then into the farm areas, and soon into the mountain region which is known as the uncharted lands since there are some vast areas where there are no claims on the untouched areas. Some of them cheered with joy as they rode faster and faster into the unknown. They will ride for a few hours until they make it to the woods, then they will make camp and Jack will finally join they're group for real and look for the next and final warrior. Little do they know that the last warrior will surprise all of them in a way that they never expected.

**END CHAPTER.**


	19. THE FINAL WARRIOR

**CHAPTER 19: THE FINAL WARRIOR**

The wind passed them hard as the gang continued to ride the horses they 'borrowed' from the castles stable and rode out in the early afternoon light. They passed the city and main roads in no time at all since the breed of horses their riding were incredibly fast and could run for hours on end. The horses they rode were very tall and muscular with blackish brown hair and white in the stomach area, and long grayish mane and tail with large hooves that seemed to shatter the very ground they rode. The main city got smaller and smaller as the castle soon was out of view too. They have finally reached a forest area and continued to ride through it with no effort as the horses stomped the branches and fallen trunks without even noticing as the forest got denser. The sun was beginning to set as they finally decided to stop for the night. They luckily found a stream for the horses to get a well deserved drink and let them graze.

"Now that was fun! I can't wait to ride again." Odd said as he stretched from sitting for a long time.

"We're gonna have to stop for the night Odd, the last thing we need is for the horses to trip in the dark and I have to put a bullet in their heads." Z said as he began to search through his pack.

"Well now that we stopped, let's have Jack sworn in and then we can get a fire going and settle in for the night." Aracane said.

"Good plan Aracane. Here you go Jack." Aelita said as she gave him the amulet.

"Right." Jack smiled as he took the amulet. "I swear to join your cause and stop Xana." The orb of the amulet lit up and another gem glowed, signaling the next warrior has joined them and the arrow pointed into a new direction.

"Awesome, that's eighteen, two more to go." William said.

"I still can't believe there's so many of us. We've really shot up in our numbers." Yumi added.

"Well from what you've told us about Xana, we're gonna need all the help we can get." Aracane said.

"So now that Jack is an official part of our group, let's get settled for the night and began our search for the next warrior in the morning." Leadonus said.

"Thanks, I'm happy to join." Jack said to them all.

"High-five!" Miodelus said with his hand up near Jack.

"What?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

"High-five." Mio said again.

"I don't understand." Jack replied.

"Never mind." Mio said with a frown.

"We'll explain the high-five later Jack. Right now we need to get moving with our camp." Kairaree said, and with that they all broke off into groups.

Aracane and Knulgen gathered wood for the fire while Ulrich and William made a spot for the fire. Yumi, Kairaree, Aelita, and Jeremie began to dig out the canned food which mostly came from two of the four Surfane brothers pack, but it was mostly seafood. The rest took turns watching the horses as they walked and grazed. After an hour the sun began to set and they had a roaring fire going while they cooked the food over the fire and ate. The canned seafood was lobster bits, crab chunks, fish slivers, and even shrimp puffs which the Surfane brothers ate with joy since they're species diet mostly consist of sea based food.

"This is not bad, I've never had canned food before." Jack said as he took out another bit with a tiny pointed twig that they each had and burned over the fire to clean the twigs.

"What a surprise." Knulgen said with a low voice which Eli'ton then gave a quick kick in his shin. Knulgen then growled at him a little.

"So guys, we now have a new enemy called Ukai that is Xana's right hand warrior." Bel'la said, changing the subject.

"This does present a problem. Who knows how many others like him there are, and Ukai is also very strong and durable." Z added.

"The thing is, I've never seen a creature like him before in any of my books. I know there's all kinds of creatures that are of people level intelligence, but nothing like him before. Do you know what he is Jack? Have you ever seen anything like Ukai before?" Deotalus asked.

"No I haven't, I don't know what kind of creature he is. But then again, this Xana sounds powerful from what you all have told me. Maybe Ukai is a demon Xana summoned." Jack thought.

"Maybe Xana created him, I wouldn't be surprised by it." Yumi pointed out.

"Well one way or another, we will find the answers somehow." Sam added with a shrug.

As they finished eating and cleaned up, they unfurled some small mats to sleep on. As they stoked the fire again, a sudden flash of light appeared which caught they're attention and the ever appearing Guardian Warrior formed in front of them. "Congratulations warriors. You have found the next one, only one more to go." GW said to them.

"Yes! And then we can finally finish Xana for good." Odd said with joy.

"Wait a minute, if we only got one more warrior to find, then why are there twenty gems? Each one of them resembles us right?" Aelita asked as she pulled out the amulet to show him.

"You are right Aelita, each gem resembles you all, but fate has shown that there are nineteen of you all, and the twentieth resembles you all when you are fully united in your quest to defeat Xana." GW explained. "Buy anyway, I would like to meet you Prince Jack." GW said as he turned to Jack.

Jack stood up and walked over to him. "It's a pleasure to meet you Guardian Warrior. They have told me all about you kind spirit. What's it like in the spirit realm?" Jack said in a polite tone.

"It is a pleasure to meet you as well Prince Jack. I am proud that you choose to leave your kingdom to help you're new friends fight Xana. And with the power of the Excalion, you will become a great king one day." GW replied with a smile.

"Well I was bored staying in the castle all the time anyway, and getting out into the world is just something you can't learn in a book great spirit." Jack chuckled.

"Remember, even though being a king is a large responsibility, having good friends to guide you is also important to have. But the day will come when you lead your kingdom with a fair and just heart like your parents before you." GW said, giving his usual and enlightening advise.

"So when we find the last warrior, how are we gonna deal with Xana? Is he just going to jump in and we defeat him?" Jeremie asked.

"As much as I want to stop Xana, I would hate to have our journey over already when Xana is defeated. There is still so much to see and do." Aracane said with a little sadness in his voice.

"When you find the last warrior, you all will not fight Xana right away. Xana is very powerful, so you all must find the power that is deep within you all to be able to hurt him. He knows this, so he wont be to eager to rush into attacking you all directly." GW explained.

"How will we bring this power out of us? And even if we do, how are we gonna use it to fight Xana?" Yumi asked.

"Be patient, you will all know soon enough. Xana is strong, but nothing is more strong then the powers of truth, courage, kindness, knowledge, unity, peace, and most importantly, love. Now I must be going, there are things that I need to attend to." GW said as he turned around to begin leaving.

"What do you have to do?" Odd asked.

"Let's just say I have to attend a meeting that is taking place in my realm soon. Like your worlds, there's a lot of work that we need to do to keep balance. Now farewell warriors." GW replied as he soon began to glow and in a flash of light, he was gone.

So after Jack was introduced to Guardian Warrior, they stoked the fire one more time and began to tell Jack some of the stories of when they fought Xana on Earth, and how they met and eventually defeated him and the peace they enjoyed before being sent to this planet. Finally they called it a night with Jack volunteering to help take the first watch shift with some of the others as they slept under the stars with the only sound of the fire crackling and the horses making small noises. Around midnight Jack and some of the others changed shift as he laid down to sleep. He looked up to the star filled night and wondered to himself, how far will they're journey take them all?

()()()()()()()()()()

Ukai sat in the back of his military like truck that was a mobile command truck. His wounds have long since healed, but pride has not. In only a few hours he fell far from the graces of Xana. For the first time in his life he began to question his loyalty to him. He had done so much for Xana without question, but now he was in deep trouble for a defeat against a bunch of teenagers.

But it was the defeat by them that made him angry the most. He kept making small growls on and off as he thought of the battle over and over again and on how he could have lost to them in the first place? He had gone up against many enemies with state of the art weapons and equipment, and enemy armies with nothing more then his feral instincts. Yet he somehow lost to a bunch of teens with mostly primitive weapons, and one teen with guns, and another with a magic sword.

"When I see them again, I will make the pink haired harlot watch as I rip each of their heads off slowly, and bring her and their heads to Xana. Then my loyalty to Xana will never be questioned again. But first I need to investigate the hidden base that Xana is sending me too. From what I've been informed from the team heading there, they will have several armed transport trucks dropped by stealth plane with over three hundred armed men with scanning equipment, and troops trained to search the area for what their looking for." Ukai said to himself.

Ukai's job will be to assist with whatever security the hidden base has. From what Ukai knows, the science base was made almost sixty years ago during the great wars with several nations at that time, and all he knew was that they had something that caught Xana's interest, and if Xana wanted something, one way or another, he will get it no matter what.

Ukai leaned back farther in his seat as the truck rode down the highway road to a private base which he would then catch a cargo plane that will fly him to the location. And he will then air dive out and meet up with the troops by mid-morning to pick him up and begin the search for the base.

()()()()()()()()()

DAY 15

The eighteen warriors woke as the sun began to rise. They ate some breakfast bars and soon after, saddled up and got a bearing on their next direction. "Okay Aelita, show us the way to the next warrior." Ulrich said as he got his horse ready to go.

"It's pointing straight north. I'll stay up front with you guys in case the arrow changes paths." Aelita said as she got herself adjusted in her saddle with Yumi.

"Then we haven't a moment to lose. The areas ahead of us are mostly open grassland with some forest and mountains, so our horses wont have much of a problem riding through. Now let's head out, Yah!" Jack said as he whipped the reins and their horses whinny and began to run. The thundering hoof-beats of the horses echoed as they ran out into a open clearing that stretched for miles in any direction with a mountain in the distance to the left and some patches of forest here and there. The gang knew they had a long ride that day.

Hours passed as they continued to ride, they would slightly slow down every now and then to take in the view from the high mountains all around them, to the dense forests, and even some of the cliffs they passed over. They knew that they were way out of Arthurlot's region and not even in any other providence because the direction they were going, they would soon be in between the paths that connected Briourope from the other land connected continents.

After a few hours it was almost noon, Z pulled out a GPS like devise and looked it over. At the rate they went, they have traveled over two hundred miles from where they camped. The horses they're riding really are impressive. They looked around the area they were in. The place had mountains all around and they had to slow down because of some cliffs and narrow passes. After some time Aelita stopped the group.

"Guys hold on, the amulet is glowing brighter. I think the next warrior is not far." Aelita said to them.

"Strange, there's no towns or villages in this area. We're way too far from any civilization, this place is nothing but open land." Z said as he looked over his GPS.

"After all this time and we're still trying to figure out the places the warriors are? As far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't worry where they are." Odd said with a smile.

"I think what Z means is we need to cautious, unlike the other areas we found you guys, this place is just way too far out to be alone." Ulrich said as he rode causally.

"Ulrich does have a point. This area is far too suspicious for anyone to be all the way out here." Leadonus added in agreement.

"Guys look, there's a clearing over the cliff." Sam said as she pointed in the direction in front of them. They rode a little faster until they passed the clearing. In front of them was a small opening with a not too steep cliff. Z got out his binoculars and looked out, what he saw caught their attention. There was a small mound of a mountain only twenty or so feet high on the ground with trees all around and above it with a large metal door with some moss and vines over it at ground level, and in front of the door was a large area of grass with a small dirt road that lead up to it that hasn't been used in a very long time.

"Well I'll be, that's an old research base from the great war that happened sixty years ago." Z said as he put his binoculars down from his eyes.

"A research base out here? Why would someone build something like that here?" Sam asked.

"It's like Z said, there was a great war sixty years ago between several nations. And it was an age of technological boom with new weapons and machines. Research and military bases popped up all over the places within their own nations and even secret bases. From what I've learned, not all of them were legal or even ethical." Deotalus said to them.

"What do you mean by that?" William asked.

"Some bases performed illegal operations and some people even believe that they did things centuries ahead of our time with weapons and machines, and even genetic experimentation with people and animals." Deo continued.

"Hey Jack, was your nation involved with the war?" Jeremie asked.

"Not directly. Ever since I was a kid, one of my first lessons was learning the history of my nation and ancestors. And from what I've learned, my nation provided support to the allied forces, and even my grandfather Richard The True, helped fight when he could. It was before he was married and before my father was born." Jack answered.

"But out here just seems too far out even for a secret base, what with supplies and people." Eli'ton interjected.

"If you all think that's strange, then your not going to believe this. The amulet is pointing to that base." Aelita chimed in. they were all stunned by what she said as they looked out to the base.

"Oh no guys, if you think that's bad, then look over there." Bel'la said as she pointed to the other side of the forest that was across from the base. Seven military like trucks rolled in from the forest and pulled in front of the base. The troops began to unload themselves and then unloaded a couple of cases with strange scanning equipment. But the last thing that caught their attention was the person that climbed out of the lead truck.

"Oh my gods guys! It's Ukai" Aracane said as he pointed to the lead truck. Ukai climbed out and began to give orders to the men. They couldn't really hear him, but they could mostly see him and the men scurry about.

"We need to get back into the woods now. We'll figure out what to do next." Leadonus said before he turned his horse around.

"Let's move guys before they spot us." Ralfaius added. Everyone agreed as they turned around too and rode back into the woods and out of site.

They found a small clearing and got off their horses and took a well deserved stretch for riding so long. "Alright guys, we don't know what's going on with dickhead mutt-face and his troop of Xana bitches, but the amulet is for whatever reason pointing towards that base. So we need to move quick and find the last warrior whoever he or she is before dog-cat-man or what the fuck ever kind of freak Ukai is before they do." Knulgen said, surprising the gang with his eagerness to stop Ukai.

"Wow Knulgen, what brought out this kindness and eagerness?" Kairaree asked as she leaned against her horse.

"The sooner we find the last warrior, the sooner we can fight Xana and take turns running our weapons up Xana's ass. Besides, there's a lot of troops down there, plenty to fight." Knulgen replied with a smile.

"Figures, but he is right. We need to think of an attack plan. It's a safe bet that Ukai and his troops don't know the lay of it either, so we need to stick to stealth and take them down one by one." Z said as he began to think of a plan.

"You mean... kill?" Yumi asked.

"One way or another, you guys are gonna have to get your hands bloody like the rest of us. So stop being babies and suck it up before you all get killed." Knulgen said to the Earth born members.

"Enough Knulgen, you and a few more of you go back to the cliff and watch over while we think of a plan, and we will get ready for the assault." Z stepped in.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied as he put his hands on the back of his head.

"I'm going to send the horses away. We don't need them getting caught in the crossfire of our battle." Jack said as he walked over to the horses.

"Wait, we're just going to let them go? What if we need them for later when we leave?" Odd asked.

"We can't keep them forever. One way or another we would have to let them go." Bel'la said.

"She right, and don't worry guys, these horses aren't just fast, they're very smart. Their trained to find their way back to the castle, so they will be fine." Jack said as he began to take off they're reins and tie them to the saddles so they wont get caught.

"Okay guys, we'll began our assault in a few minutes, so get ready." Z said as everyone broke off into groups. Knulgen, Ralfaius and Eli'ton went to keep watch over the troops while some of the others took their packs and put them by some trees and put some leaves over it to hide the packa. Jack then walked over to where Z was.

"I know what it's like, to make the decision of taking a life to survive. The other day when I killed my first enemy. His blood pouring out of his mouth as he looked at me with pure hate through his visor, I will never forget it, and I know I will be doing it again soon." Jack said to Z.

"Knulgen may act like a fucking ass, but I can tell he's only worried about their safety. But he is right, sooner our later they will have to draw blood, and killing the enemy just increases their chance of survival. But like you said, it's never easy for good people to commit to this life long decision." Z said as he remembered his first kill when he was young.

"The burden of taking a life is never an easy choice for warriors to do at first, but eventually our greatest struggle is to carry the ghosts of our fallen enemies and their hate. But the greatest sign of a warrior is not how many you kill, it's how you live with yourself and forgive as well." Aracane said, overhearing them and adding his own input.

"Well let's not worry about that right now, get the horses to go, and then we will begin our attack." Z said as he began to walk to where Knulgen and the others were.

Jack sent the horses away by giving them a command to go home, and they soon ran off in the direction they came in the first place. Everyone then walked up the hill and crouched down as they overlooked the area. Most of the guards have gone inside leaving only ten outside to guard the place.

"It looks simple enough, we'll take them out, and then make our way into the base." Z said as he gave one more look over the place.

"Cool, Aelita, Jeremie, you stay behind while we do this, so give us the amulet." Knulgen said as he draw his sword.

"No, I want to go too. You guys can fight them while I search for the warrior. And besides, I've faced life threatening situation when we fought in Lyoko, and yes I know unlike Lyoko, we only get one life in the real world, so I will be careful." Aelita responded.

"Fine, then Jeremie, you stay here, your defiantly no good in a fight." Knulgen said to him.

"Now hold on! If she's going in, then so am I. I wouldn't feel right with it if I let you guys go in while I sit here waiting for you. I'll just stay close to Aelita and help her." Jeremie said with a little anger as he looked over to Aelita, which she then responded with a small smile.

"We're wasting time arguing this, we need to get a move on now." Leadonus said as he got his scythe ready for battle. Everyone then draw they're weapons and began to make their way down the small cliff through a stable path going down. As they all went down single file, Ulrich looked over to see Yumi still standing in the same place she was when they were going over the plan.

"Yumi, what's wrong? We need to stay with the group." Ulrich said as he walked over to her.

"It's just that... _sigh_, what Knulgen said. That we will have to get our hands bloody sooner or later, and I don't know if I could live with myself if I did." Yumi answered as she looked out over the cliff to the hidden base.

"Hey don't worry about it, we made it this far without killing anyone, and we will continue to do so." Ulrich replied with a comforting and positive tone.

"But it's just that... when we were on the Surfane brothers ship, there was this one man that attacked me and I got so caught up in the fight that when I managed to roll on top of him, I had my blade over him and I managed to stop myself before stabbing him. But he grabbed me by the arm and dared me to cut his throat open. He kept taunting me to do it, and the thing is... apart of me wanted to do it. Despite the fact that I knew it was wrong, I still wanted to do it to show that I could. But I froze up as he pushed me off him. And if not for Z shooting him, he would have put a bullet in my head instead. And now I can't get the thought out of my mind, that if I continue to hesitate, I might get killed or worst... get one of you guys killed too." Yumi told him as a tears began to form at her eyes.

"It's alright Yumi, I won't let that happen to any of us. Now let's go find the last warrior." Ulrich replied with a smile as he patted her on the shoulders. She smiled back and they both began to make their way down the hill.

The two joined up with the rest as they got to ground level. The guards were quite a distance away as they continued to pace around, not really paying attention to they're surroundings since they obviously thought that no one would be out here with them.

"They're not paying attention, they will be easy to take out if we all pick a target and attack at once before they notice us." Aracane whispered to Z.

"They don't have communicators on them. This must be a very secret operation, so that's why they have a lack of a stronger security. So let's move out before they spot us." Z said as he put a suppressor on his two main handguns.

"We'll use the tall grass to hide ourselves. It's just like what I was taught back in my mothers tribe." Kairaree said as she pulled out her chain/sickle ninja-like weapon.

Z, Kairaree, Aracane, Knulgen, Jack, Leadonus, Ralfaius, Deotalus, Miodelus, Bel'la, Eli'ton began to move through the tall grass while the others stayed back in forest shadows. They're footsteps didn't even make a sound as they began to sneak up on the guards, who were still moving around casually as the wind gently blow.

They split off to take out each one on their own. Bel'la was the first one to attack as she rose from the grass and trusted her staff-blade into the chest of the first guard without effort as it pierced all the way through and pulled him down into the grass with barley a sound.

Four guards looked over as they saw the one guard was not where he was anymore, and they both began to make their way to where he was last seen. It was then that Deotalus jumped up and thrust the middle spearhead of his trident into the neck of one guard and pulled him down.

Leadonus then quietly ran up behind the other guard and swung his scythe over and behind the neck of the guard and decapitated him with the scythe blade as his body fell into the grass with his head as Lea ducked back into the grass too.

Ralfaius took his turn and jumped up from the grass behind the guard and drove his sais into his back as he jumped on top of him and pulled the guard down with him.

Miodelus leaped up and stabbed with all four of his hidden blades from his nun-chucks, holding them downward and into the back of another guard and pulled him into the grass.

The other guards final began to get suspicious as more were not seen. Without much words they began to search with their rifles up and ready to fire. Eli'ton jumped up and stabbed one blade into a guard that was farthest from the others into his lower abdomen, and then the other blade into his chest and pulled him down with him.

As one guard continued to search, Jack sprang up and in one swing, killed the guard with a deep gash across his chest before ducking back down in one fluid motion.

Aracane jumped up in front of another and before the guard could yell, Aracane grabbed him and threw him to the ground and then brought his ax down on his chest, killing him quickly before ducking back into the grass.

It was Kairaree's turn as she raised from the ground and swung the sickle like part of her chain weapon at the guard and wrapped around his neck and in one quick pull, cut his throat as the chain unwrapped around his neck and the guard fell to the ground dead.

Knulgen finally got tired of waiting as he arose and ran after the nearest guard and in one quick swing, killed the guard with no effort with his curved blade as the guard fell down.

The last guard turned around and saw that all his fellow guards gone as Z rose up from the grass. The guard turned to see him and before he could do anything, Z raised both of his main guns with the suppressors and shot several rounds from each gun, killing the last guard. "Clear!" Z called out to the rest hiding in the forest shadows.

"Well that was defiantly a way to clear them out." Sam said as she stepped over one of the fallen guards.

"Now the next part of our task is to track down the next warrior and avoid Ukai and his men. And from what I could tell, he has over three hundred of them with the latest in weapons." Z said as he looked over the guards and took some ammo and even one of the assault rifles to throw away later.

"Then let's head inside guys, and just remember to keep quiet." Ulrich said as he drew his sabers and was the first to walk into the large metal door first. Everyone then filed in after him with Z on point and a few of them watching the back.

Before Jeremie and Aelita walked, she stopped Jeremie at the door.

"Here Jeremie, you find the last warrior. So you can show Knulgen your helpful too." Aelita said as she gave him the amulet.

"Umm, thanks Aelita, I'll do my best." Jeremie replied as he looked over it and then they both followed in too. Jeremie got beside Ulrich as he began to lead the group with Z's stolen rifle ready to fire. The base seemed very large with many levels going down. The inside seemed very generic as far as a hidden base with dark gray rounded walls with grated floors.

The place was pretty dirty with various old garbage like tin cups, moldy unreadable paper and filing cabinets with some of the drawers gone, and a number of junk and parts. The power was on but not at full. Ukai's men must have turned on the backup power. As they continued to walk the halls, they passed a few small office like rooms with most of the stuff on the desks either gone or rotting away, and even the old style computers looked like they were burnt out.

"Amazing! There's a bunch of TRS-404 computers, 97781-GHI Reels, and some more monitor equipment and various other type of machines." Deotalus said as they entered a room filled with old computer stations and equipment from long ago. They all spread out to have a look around.

"We're not here to geek out Deo. We need to find the last warrior and be done with it." Ralfaius said to Deo as he looked over the old machines.

"If I can boot them back up, we might find where this warrior is, or at least get a better idea on what went down in here." Deo shot back as he sat down in a old chair and began to type away on the built in keyboard computer.

"I just still want to know why anybody would want to live in this dump? It smells, it's old and falling apart, and I think there may be either water damage or dangerous material." Odd said as he looked around the dim room.

"Yes, a real fixer-upper." William replied with a sarcastic tone.

"How did you punks get in here? Put your hands up now!" A voice yelled out. The gang turned around to see a Cataranion guard that was with the other troops. "Don't move or I will open fire!" He said to them.

"Hey asshole!" Knulgen called out. The guard turned to him and before he could do anything, Knulgen grabbed an old monitor and in one motion, threw the monitor and hit the man dead center in the face as he fell to the ground bleeding very bad.

"Is he dead? I think you might have killed him." Bel'la said, not really phased by it.

"Probably..." Knulgen replied.

"He might have been on patrol, which means he'll have to check in sooner or later. Which means we'll have to move soon." Eli'ton added.

"Either way we can leave this room now, the files are corrupted beyond use." Deotalus said with defeat as he got up and they began their search again.

As they walked further down the halls, they continued to pass various rooms like a break-room, the cafeteria which was filled with dirty and dusty trays and dishes, and even a few old food cans with the labels faded off. They would have to check this room again if they manage to flush Ukai and his men out with no problem. They even passed some more private office rooms and even a toilet and shower room. Odd made the foolish decision to push open the door only to slam it shut because of the god-awful smell from the rotted burst pipes as they all gagged a little from the smell.

"If you ever open a bathroom door again Odd, I'll shoot you myself." Z warned as he waved the smell away.

"Guys look at this, I found a map of the place." Yumi called out to them. They looked over to where she was and looked at the etched on map of the whole place. The map showed the various levels that went down fifteen stories with many tunnels and separate research rooms.

"This place goes on forever. We could be down here for hours, and Ukai's men are all over the place. And it would even be worst if Ukai finds the warrior before we do." Leadonus said to them.

"We should also find out what Ukai is looking for in here. I doubt he's looking for the last warrior like we are." Aelita pointed out.

"I suppose we will find our answers one way or another, now this map looks easy to read. All the rooms and halls are labeled and have arrows to direct too." Aracane said as he looked over the map as well.

"The amulet is beginning to point down, so the next warrior must be below us." Jeremie said as he looked at the amulet.

"Then let's go! This whole place is like one of my open world games that's about our world annihilated by nuclear war, and you create a character, and survive by searching old building and bases and follow all kinds of crazy missions!" Miodelus said with joy as he remembered one of his games.

They made their way down the massive stairs and into more of the rooms as they continued to search the premises. As they got deeper and deeper into the base, they saw more and more of it filled with strange rooms and large cables and cords built into the roof. Suddenly they began to hear voices at the end of the dark hall.

"We've been down here a long time, how could you all have not found anything yet?" A familiar voice yelled. The gang slowly walked to the edge of the room and looked over. They saw Ukai yelling and giving orders to some men in strange armor with weird night-vision like goggles that extended in and out with strange breather masks over they're mouths and full body armor.

They were in a room filled with a number of monitors and other equipment. Simply just another computer room.

"We're doing our best, we have guards broken up into a number of groups to look and retrieve anything of interest. We are also looking through the computers hard-drives, but most of it is corrupted and damaged and it will take a while to reboot the data." One of them said, who was a Lizardin, as he typed away on a keyboard hacking device that was connected to one of the computers.

"You know, we haven't heard back from one of the guards on the main level that was stationed near one of the computer rooms." Another one of the strange soldiers said as he opened another case of equipment.

"Just get to it! Xana is very impatient and if we keep him waiting, he will bury us in this base." Ukai growled and kicked a old chair with his three clawed foot and flew into the very dark hall the gang was hiding in. Z turned and put a finger to his lips as a way of telling them to keep their cool.

Jeremie got startled by the chair flying by them which made him reel back and caused his glasses to come loose and slide off his face. He tried to grab it, but it was too late as it hit the grated ground with a clatter. Ukai's ears twitched as he looked over to the source of the sound and growled, he then sniffed the air and his eyes went wide with rage.

He then went leaped over to a power box and flipped a few of the switches and the very hall the gang was in came fully light up, revealing the gang and even Jeremie picking up his glasses. "You all again?!" He roared with pure anger. "How did you all get here? How did you all even find this base?" Ukai demanded as Jeremie put the amulet behind his back. "You know what? It doesn't matter. It's a golden opportunity to find what Xana is looking for, and to kill you all as well." Ukai chuckled as a number of guards began to fill the room from the other hallway entrances that surrounded the computer room. "It's like killing... eighteen birds with one boulder." He then laughed harder.

"Sorry Ukai, we we're just passing by, we didn't know you we're all using this place." Odd joked.

"I don't care if you all came here to fuck each other! Your going to die here one way or another. Guards! Kill them all but use your sidearms only. Leave the pink-haired human alive, Xana want's her alive, so use combat machetes, and only shoot if you have a clear shot on the rest." Ukai ordered as his men sling their rifles and unsheathed their combat machetes and handguns.

"Move now guys!" Z ordered as he put ten rounds with his main handguns into the eyes of ten troops through they're helmets visors, killing them and giving them a distraction as the gang ran back down the hall.

They tried to run up the stairs, but over a dozen troops came storming down with their blades out since they got radioed the order. Aracane and Leadonus charged up the stairs at them and took out a few and even broke some of their combat machetes without effort with their ax and scythe, giving them a much needed distraction as they pushed the dead troops into the others behind them before jumping back down as they all went into another direction down another hall.

"Great job Jeremie. Next time let's bend over with our pants down so they can fuck rape us in our asses!" Knulgen yelled as they ran.

"I didn't mean to, that chair startled me." Jeremie defended.

"Leave him alone Knulgen, it was an accident." Kairaree yelled back as a troop popped out from another hallway ahead of them with his gun up and ready to fire. She threw one of her daggers into his neck and killing him as he fell back against the wall and slowly slid down. Kairaree then plucked the dagger from his neck as they passed without even stopping. **(A/N: Now that's what I call Badass rank style)**

"We need to find a place where we can barricade ourselves until we can think of a way to fight them off and find the last warrior." Ralfaius said as he threw both his sais into the necks of two more guards that popped out of another hall and retrieved them like Kairaree.

They then ran into a very strange room. The room was like most of the halls they passed but this room had a very wide and long bridge. And under the grated bridge was a dark pit with metal walls that went down it. "What in the hell is this place suppose to be?" Aracane said as he looked around.

"This must be some kind of ventilation room or a design flaw, or maybe they had to build it this way because there was a natural cave or tunnel." Deotalus thought as he looked around as well.

"Maybe Jeremie can get some of the guards to come find us, and help figure it out with us." Knulgen said, know Jeremie was right behind him.

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Jeremie replied, getting angry.

"Leave... him... alone Knulgen!" Leadonus said, clutching his scythe.

"There they are, get them!" A guard yelled as he and several more men came out onto the bridge with him. The guard raised his handgun and aimed it right at Jeremie. He then cocked the hammer and as he began to pull the trigger.

"Out of the way Jeremie!" Knulgen yelled as he pulled him aside and the enemy fired, hitting Knulgen in the right shoulder, embedding it in.

Everyone gasped as Knulgen stumbled from the pain. He then threw his sword right at the man, cutting his hand off as the blade flew right through, and then the heavy headed tip went right through another guards head. Knulgen then charged and retrieved his sword and attacked the guards with combat machetes.

A few of them got passed Knulgen as they then charged after the others. One guard went after Jeremie as a few of them attacked the others. As they fought them, one other guard pulled out a grenade and got ready to pull the pin.

"Guy's get back! I'll take care of him." Jack said as they backed near the other end of the bridge while Knulgen fought the guards at the other end. Jack charged after the man and then delivered a fatal blow before he could pull the pin, but unfortunately as the man guard to the ground. The grenade rolled and unpinned itself since the ring was still looped around his finger.

The guard grabbed Jeremie from behind as he tried to run. "Let go of me! Let me go now you creep!" Jeremie demanded, but the man held him tight from behind, not knowing the grenade was near them as it then exploded, sending the man and Jeremie over the rails and into the pit.

"Jeremie!" Aelita yelled as she leaned over the rail with her hand out as if she could catch him in time. Knulgen took down the last guard and looked over the rail too. He held his sword in his left hand as blood slowly flowed down the inside of his coat sleeve and dripped off his knuckles as he clenched his fist that trembled in anger.

"Dammit!" Knulgen yelled as his voice echoed down the pit.

()()()()()()()()()()()

A few minutes passed as Jeremie regained consciousness from the fall. He coughed a little and leaned himself up as he then noticed the ground under him was lumpy. He looked down and gasped as he jumped off the dead guard that broke his fall. "I guess it is the sudden stop after all." Jeremie said to himself as he then dusted off and looked himself over, surprisingly not even hurt at all.

"How did I not even get hurt? What is with that pit anyway?" Jeremie continued to talk to himself as he looked up to see the hole in the roof was no bigger then the diameter of the pit he fell down. He then looked around and noticed that the area was no different then the other halls and rooms they were searching around, just more dimmer.

"This area must not have full power back yet. I must have fallen ten levels or down, I can't even see the top, it's pitch black up there. But anyway, I need to make my way back up there." He said as he looked up the hole.

" Oh who am I kidding? Knulgen was right, I am useless. In either a fight, or just helping out. The only thing I'm good at is typing on a keyboard, and there's no way to fight with a keyboard." Jeremie said with a miserable tone as he leaned against a wall and tears began to form at his eyes. He then noticed the light from the amulet that fell out of his inner coat pocket glowed bright on the floor. He picked it up and looked at the arrow, then looked up as it pointed to a metal door, but unlike the other rooms, it didn't have a label over it.

"The next warrior is in this room." Jeremie said with renewed confidence as he put the chain of the amulet around his neck and walked over to the door. He pressed the button and the door slowly and loudly slide open. He then walked in and looked around. The room was far more stranger then the rest, and only with some lights on near the door. He looked over to a wall that was covered with schematics that showed detailed designs of parts on the outside, and even cut-away inside parts. Some looked like machines that he has never seen before and even some of strange weapons and limb like parts.

"What is all this stuff suppose to be?" Jeremie said to himself as he looked at a long table with some old computers and equipment, and spare parts and tools. He picked up some journals filled with more part designs and long lines of math equations that even he had a hard time figuring out. As he looked the journals over still filled with sketches of parts and even journal entry's that didn't make any sense, he then looked up and saw a large switch.

Pushing his luck he pulled the lever and some sparks flew off it as some more lights turned on, but only light up half of the room, perfectly splitting the room between the light and dark but what he saw next shocked him.

In the middle of the room was a coffin shaped pod with large cables connected to the underside of it with the door like part opened. The doors were the kind that split down the middle as Jeremie walked over to it. He looked inside and saw that there was nothing in it, but the inside had holes that looked like something would connect to whatever goes into it. The outside body was sleek and futuristic looking with mostly red colors with some black and dark gray here and there.

"This just gets weirder and weirder." Jeremie said as he scratched his head. _Clank, clank, bang. _Jeremie jumped as the loud sound startled and made him jump, his heart began to race. "He- he- hello?" He called as his voice quivered a little. He stood perfectly still for a minute as nothing responded. Just then a strange sound came from the dark part of the room, it sounded like gears whirring as heavy metal sounding footsteps began to come his way.

_Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp._

The sound of the footsteps got closer and closer as two green round lights side by side came into view as they got closer and closer. Jeremie began to shake as each stomp got closer. Finally the green lights got to the edge of the lighten part of the room and seemed to pause before stepping out into the light.

The source of the noise finally revealed it's self from the dark. The being was eight feet tall. The face of it's head was flat and gray with green round eyes with lenses to open and close and even look like it could make expressions. It had a mouth like opening that could open and close like a mouth with a tiny light coming out of it. The top of it's head was blood red with black on the back side of it and down it's flexible neck.

The body was wide and broad with mostly red color plating with some black and gray in between the plating for flexibility. The lower parts near the abdomen was black with servos that made it able to bend and flex in the 'stomach' area.

The arms were big and long with big shoulder plating. The upper parts of the arm was black and looked like a cross between plating and synthetic muscle-fiber like the stuff that's being developed by most army research. The forearms were very large, but not over cumbersome either and mostly red with large gray hands which you could see the joints in between each section of the hands. And its arms looked like they could house a number of things in it.

It's legs were almost as tall as Jeremie with the same design style like the arms with the upper part being black and like synthetic muscle-fiber too with the lower part of the legs big and red, and gray boot shaped feet with treads that could change and adjust for whatever kind of terrain.

Jeremie stood there not knowing what to do as the robot stood there as well, staring back at him while making small machine like noise. Jeremie then looked down as he noticed the amulet shining. He lifted it up as it hung from his neck and then pointed it at the robot, and the arrow pointed straight at the machine. Not knowing what to think as he came to realize that he found the next warrior. He then threw all caution away as he raised his hand and gave a small wave. "Hi there..." Was all the genius could think of.

The robot then made some more louder machine noise as it raised it's arms up. It's hands split open between the middle and ring fingers and down the palms and retracted halfway into it's large wrists as two long rectangular shaped barrels with round tips and round cylinders under the back end of the barrels came out. Red lights then came on at the sides of both barrels and some lights around the cylinder parts as a charging noise started up.

"Objective commence. Begin mission. Destroy all Techborgs. Destroy all enemies. Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!" The robot shouted as red lights began to glow inside the guns barrels that were pointed right at Jeremie, and it's soft green eyes, turned to a bright blood red.

**END CHAPTER.**


	20. PROTOCOL ALPHA

**CHAPTER 20: PROTOCOL ALPHA**

"Destroy all Techborgs! Destroy! Terminate!" The robot shouted as it's guns fired. But what it fired was amazing, it fired red lasers. Jeremie quickly ducked down as it began to blast away at nothing. It then stomped away to the door still blasting until it reached the door and ceased firing, and burst right through the door as if it was made of tinfoil and into the halls, and then began to continue firing it's Gatling-lasers. "How are we gonna get this guy on our side?" Jeremie said as he got up. Despite his whole body telling him to run, he decided to cautiously follow the rampaging robot.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Jeremie! Jeremie! Jeremie!" Aelita shouted down the pit as tears began to flow down her cheeks.

"We need to go now." Z said as he gently grabbed her shoulder. "We need to go now before more troops come."

"No! We can't just leave him. He could be hurt or, or-" Aelita couldn't even bring herself to say the last word.

"Aelita, if we stay here we won't be of any help to him if Ukai and his men catch us. Let's get Knulgen some help and then we will find Jeremie." Yumi said, stepping in to help Z.

"Knulgen let's go! We need to find a place to get you stitched up before you loose more blood." Aracane said to shake Knulgen out of his trance from looking down the pit hole.

"Don't worry about me right now. We need to find him." Knulgen replied with a little anger.

"Knulgen, the bullet might have hit a main artery. If you don't get it treated right now, you may bleed to death before we even find Jeremie." Leadonus added.

"Besides, that man was holding onto Jeremie tight as they fell. From what I saw at the angle, Jeremie might have landed on top of the man and cushioned his fall." Deotalus said, calculating Jeremie's fall.

"Fine, let's go before I leave a trail of blood." Knulgen said defeated as they all began to leave with Aelita still crying.

"Do you really think Jeremie could have survived that fall?" Ralfaius asked Deo before joining the rest.

"I had to say something or nobody would have left. Personally, I'm not sure myself." Deotalus replied as they both joined up with the others. The gang ran down the hall with Knulgen leaving little drops of blood as he held down the wound with all his might. They found a doctors infirmary that was thankfully far enough from the bridge area and they began to search around for medical supplies.

They found a few level three first-aid boxes that were thankfully still intact and airtight sealed as Knulgen jumped up onto a low table. He then took off his dusty leather padded thick coat with the short back and dark red shirt, revealing his hard toned body with the whitish color on his chest and stomach area and, even a few faded old scars.

"If you girls like what you see, then I can take off my pants." Knulgen said with a smile as he began to unbutton his pants. Aracane then came up and poked him right in his wound. "Fuck! That hurts you ass!" Knulgen yelled at him and Aracane simply smiled.

"Keep your damn pants on and shut-up." Z said as he began to open the medical box.

"Hey guys, I found a big glass bottle of whiskey." Miodelus said as he came up to Z with it.

"Give!" Knulgen said as he grabbed it and opened the bottle. He took a sniff and poured a little on his wound. He cringed from the sting of it before he began to drink it down.

"Why the hell are you drinking it? That whiskey is over sixty years old." Z asked as he began to thread the needle. For some reason he only took off his right glove.

"To... numb me from the pain?" Knulgen tried to defend.

"The kit has morphine you booze sucker." Z informed as he then injected him with a ready to use syringe near the wound.

"Hey share some Knulgen." Ralfaius said as he took the bottle and drank.

"Pass it along." Aracane said as he took the bottle and began to drink some.

"My turn." William then took the bottle too.

"William!" Yumi said surprised.

"What? Who's gonna bust us? Ukai's men?" William replied with his hands up. Kairaree then took the bottle and drank what was left.

Z went to work with knulgen as he took out some forceps and opened the wound a little wider, then took some tweezers and pulled the bullet out. He then cleaned and sterilized the wound some more, and then put some medicine on it before stitching the wound. It only took him a few minutes to sew up the wound and cut the thread as Knulgen then put his clothes back on.

"All right guys, now that Knulgen is fixed up, we need to search for Jeremie. We just need to think of a way to find him." Ulrich said, thinking of a plan.

"If we look over another map, we could maybe get an idea on where he fell." Odd suggested.

"There's one outside this office, let's have a look." Eli'ton said, remembering the map. The gang left the room and took a few more first-aid kits in case Jeremie was hurt, and the then looked over the map. They managed to find the bridge they were at.

"Okay, Jeremie fell from this bridge and into the pit, which is some kind of emergency venting system. Now we are on the third level, and the last level before it ends is on thirteen level in research and development. So we need to get on an elevator and ride down, it will be a straight shot." Deotalus said as he traced the levels around with his finger.

"It's my fault, if I haven't been too reckless, Jeremie wouldn't have fallen. But now he's probably been badly hurt badly because of me." Jack said to himself.

"Don't beat yourself up over it Jack. It was an accident, that pin got caught in his finger. You probably saved all of us from getting blown off the bridge." Z said, trying to ease his mind.

"I can see a freight elevator at the very end of the hall, we can all get on and ride it down without overloading it." Bel'la said as she pointed to it. They all then ran to it and opened the grated door. Deotalus worked the controls and finally got it booted up and the door then closed and the elevator slowly went down.

"I really hope this elevator doesn't break on us." Miodelus said as the elevator made a slow screech.

"Hang on Jeremie, we're coming to find you, just please be alright." Aelita said to herself as they descended the levels.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Mission in progress. Destroy all Techborgs. Destroy all links to Techborgs. Destroy all who serve Techborgs!" The robot shouted as it continued to fire it's Gatling-lasers all over the place.

"Geez, I heard you the first time." Jeremie said to himself, hiding behind some crates not far from the robot. He followed the robot as it continued to blind fire at enemies that weren't there in a large long room filled with stacks of old metal and wooden crates as the robots lasers tore into the room. Jeremie peeked up before ducking down as a few lasers passed overhead. "What am I gonna do? This robot is wild and obviously malfunctioning." Jeremie said as he ducked from another round of lasers.

Jeremie then heard the sound of an elevator as he looked over to the middle of the room on the left. "What now? Ukai and his men?" Jeremie said to himself as he prepared for the worst. The elevator stopped and opened to reveal the rest of the gang.

"Jeremie! You're all right, thank goodness!" Aelita shouted with joy as she saw him.

"Guys! Get down now!" Jeremie shouted. They looked at him as they then looked over to the sound they heard and ducked down as a stray of lasers flew over their heads.

"Get behind the crates now!" Z ordered as he crouched and ran to a nearby stack of crates.

"Cool! A battle robot!" Miodelus said with joy as Ralfaius pulled him down just as a laser flew right where Mio's head was barely a second ago. Mio then got up and looked at the burn hole where the laser hit on the concrete wall. "Cool!" Mio said again as he got up to look at the hole before Ral grabbed him by the coat sleeve and pulled him down again.

"Are you an idiot? Do you want to get your head blown off by lasers? You know what? Don't answer that." Ralfaius shouted as they crawled over to where they're other two brothers were.

Aelita wasted no time as she ran over to where Jeremie was and grabbed him in a big hug. "Jeremie! Your all right. I'm so glad." She said, her face snuggled into his chest as some tears fell.

"I- I- I'm fine, thanks, I'm just glad you found me, I mean you all found me." Jeremie replied as he blushed a lot.

"Jeremie, not that I'm not happy that you are perfectly alright but... what the hell is that thing?!" Ulrich practically shouted over the laser fires as he ducked down with the two.

"Same here. We leave you alone for fifteen or so minutes, and you find some kind of psycho robot?" Odd added, ducking down with Ulrich.

"If you guys think that's strange, then look at this." Jeremie replied as he took off the amulet and showed it to them. They looked at the amulet and noticed it was pointing right at the robot.

Odd even grabbed it, then looked at it, then looked at the robot, then looked at the amulet again, and looked at the robot once more. "That robot is the last warrior?!" Odd shouted to the rest of the gang.

"Are you joking?" Kairaree shouted as she ducked behind some crates from another laser shot.

"How many rounds does this thing have?" Eli'ton asked, ducking behind some crates.

"It must be some kind of energy cell. It's got to recharge soon." Deotalus answered, not really helping the situation.

"It hasn't really stopped since I found it in a lab not long ago. But right now we need to think of a way to stop it." Jeremie shouted to them.

"I'm on it." Knulgen said as he jumped out from behind some crates and drew his sword and ran after the robot from behind.

"Knulgen! No! You wont be able to cut that armor!" William shouted to the brash swordsman.

But it was too late, Knulgen was already behind the robot as he jumped and brought his sword down. But the robot stopped firing and had it's left gun retract as it's hand returned to normal and grabbed Knulgen by the collar and in one motion, threw him to a stack of crates. "Shit!.." Knulgen shouted as he hit the crates hard and the robot then continued to fire away from both arms.

"Fighting it head on will only get us killed, we need to find a way to turn it off or short it out." Leadonus said as he ducked down again with his brothers from some more laser barrage.

"Why is this thing shooting at random objects and shouting about some Techborgs that aren't even here anyway?" Aracane shouted as he took cover behind another stack of crates.

"It must be stuck in a loop from a previous battle recording. Or maybe it's following a tactic route that was programmed into it, but is still incomplete." Deotalus said, thinking of the possible reasons the robot is acting crazy.

"Either way we need to shut it down. And since I doubt it has an off switch, we need to try and make it short-circuit." Jeremie said, trying to think of a plan.

Ulrich then looked up and noticed a pipeline of fire sprinklers over the robots path in the middle of the room as he then came up with an idea. "Z! Shoot the sprinkler heads that are in the robots path. Bel'la! Run over to that power box and wait for me to tell you when to turn it on." Ulrich said as he drew one of his swords and got ready to run.

"Okay I'll shoot the heads, but what are you planning?" Z asked as he got both of his main handguns ready.

"Yeah? Why do I need to turn the power on? This rooms got enough power for the light's." Bel'la added, not sure of his plan.

"Look for the breaker that goes to the power line over the water pipe. Just trust me. Shoot now Z!" Ulrich replied as he then run before Yumi or Odd could stop him.

Ulrich jumped over the crates as Z began to fire away at the heads which only a little amount of water sprinkled out. Z finished shooting all the heads in the robots path before ducking down again, narrowly missing a few laser shots. Ulrich then slid under and between the robots legs as it noticed him and slammed it's arm down to the ground, missing Ulrich just barely as it cracked the concrete under it.

Ulrich got to the wall and turned on the main pipeline on the wall which made the opened heads spray water down on the robot in it's path, but didn't even pay attention as it still continued to fire. Ulrich then climbed up the crates and then hanged from the rafters. He then raised his sword and cut the thick cable as it began to swing down into the robots path.

"Now Bel'la!" Ulrich shouted. Bel'la then figured out what he was up to and pulled the breaker which connected to the cable. She flipped it as the cut cable came back to life with electricity pouring out as it then hit the wet floor right next to the wet robot. The room came ablaze with electric light as the robot twitched and shake violently from the electricity overloading it's system. Bel'la then cut it off so there isn't anymore damage done to it.

The electricity died down as the robot made a simple squeak like sound and it's eyes went dark and closed, then fell onto it's back with a loud thud cracking the concrete ground a little. Everyone slowly got up and carefully walked over to where it was lying. Deo pulled out his trident and gave a few jabs at it's head and no response was returned.

Ulrich jumped down from the rafters as Yumi ran up to him. "Ulrich that was so clever. But don't you dare do something like that again! You could have been killed!" Yumi practically yelled at him. "But I'm just glad your all right." She said with a softer tone.

"Sorry, but it made sense. I once saw something like that in a cartoon when I was a kid." Ulrich replied as he sheathed his sword. Everyone gathered around the motionless robot, thinking of what they need to do.

"So I guess carrying this thing is out of the question?" Odd said to them.

"Do you have any magic that could lift this thing out of here Jack?" Knulgen asked, still a little dizzy from being thrown across the room.

"I'm afraid not, most of my magic involves offensive and defensive abilities. And even though I know some levitating magic, this robot is far to heavy. I'm still not complete with my training." Jack replied.

"We shouldn't try to move it until we can fix it. We may need to find parts in case there's more damage then we think." Deotalus said as he began to look for a way to open it's chest.

"I just can't believe the last warrior is this robot. Never in a million years would any of us saw that coming." Leadonus said almost excited.

"I just want to know who built it, and how could they even build something like this so far ahead of it's time?" Jeremie added as he began to help Deo too.

"Well why don't you techno geeks work at it. We need to make sure Ukai and his men don't come down here. I'm gonna cut the power to the elevator, that will buy us some time." Ralfaius said as he walked over to the elevator and opened the control panel with his sai and then pulled the connected wires loose.

"Okay, there must be something we can do to open it's chest." Deotalus said as he tried to find some way to open the robots chest by poking around in the grooves of it's chest. "There must be some kind of release trigger or even a button that- ahhh!" Deo shouted as he and everyone looking leaped back as the chest opened up.

The top two 'pecs' parts slid upward as the two lower parts slid down, and the plates in between slid to the sides, revealing a complex, almost beyond description of the almost futuristic system. The very center had a strange yellowish ball that seemed to have a almost glass like shell, with a complex system of gears and parts with something giving a light glow in the very center of the orb. There was four big black cords connected to it in an almost 'X' like shape with various other parts, pistons, and even more of the synthetic-muscle fiber deeper into the body, and some parts that they never even seen before.

"This is truly amazing! Look at all these parts! Synthetic-muscle fiber, high processing power computer chips, pistons that can lift many times it's weight, and so many other parts that I've never seen before! I mean do you guys even know what this part does?" Deotalus asked as he pointed to a rectangle shaped part under the orb like part that had a few wires going in it.

"I... have no idea?" Miodelus said as if he had the answer.

"Neither do I! But I can't wait to find out." Deo replied with a wide smile as he began to look over it some more.

"Guys, this still doesn't answer our question. How can a robot be the final warrior? I mean, as cool as that is, it's still a robot." Odd said.

"And besides, the amulet points to the soul of the warrior, so how can this machine even have a soul?" Ulrich added.

"Well hold on guys, the soul doesn't necessarily have to be in a living body. In the ancient days, powerful sorcerers have put souls into the bodies of golems, rock guardians, and other such things. So who's to say that something that's made of metal can't have a soul either? We just need to convince it to join us." Jack said as he informed them of a brief history on soul magic.

"But it's still just an AI controlled machine, how can we even trust it? And how will we even know if it's even capable of being able to socialize with us?" Jeremie asked as he continued to work on the robot.

"I was an AI once and you all trusted me." Aelita suddenly said. Everyone looked over to her as she had a almost sad look on her face. "Before you all found out I was a real person, you thought I was just an AI. Just a being made of digital programming on a computer screen. You all had a chance to simply turn off the supercomputer even before Xana escaped into the internet. You all could have simply just shut it off and went on with your lives. Most adults would have just ignored me, but you guys still stayed, you still helped me despite the number of times you were all in danger. So if I can accepted, then so can this robot." Aelita said, looking over to the robot.

"But Aelita, you were sociable, you were always capable of being able to become a part of society and learn things like emotions, and you turned out to be a real person after all." Jeremie said as he stood up and walked over to her.

"But even if I never was a real person like you all. You all would have still accept me right?" Aelita replied.

"You know guy's, I really don't see an issue with the robot either." Aracane shrugged.

"If it can manage to hold it's ground against me, then we should let it join us." Knulgen said with a smug tone.

"You got your dumb-ass handed to you, and you know it." Eli'ton shot at him.

"People have treated us and our people wrong just because of what we are. It would be wrong for us to do the same thing to it." Bel'la added.

"Aelita's right, we've seen many amazing things since we started this journey." Sam pointed out.

"And it would be just plain awesome to have a robot buddy." Odd laughed.

"You just want it to give you a ride on it's shoulders Odd." Yumi said with her arms crossed.

"If we are going to have this robot with us and teach it how to socialize, then we need to stop calling the robot an _it._" Z said.

"Well if I know my sci-fi, which I do. Simply judging by the robots shape, we should probably call the robot a _him._" Miodelus said to them.

"You figured that out all by yourself Mio?" Ralfaius asked with a sarcastic tone.

"All right then, let's get him reactivated and take it from there." Jeremie said with a smile as he leaned over the robots chest to observe the core more closely as Aelita smiled at him for his accepting nature. Jeremie continued to work away on the inside of it's chest. He sat on the robots 'stomach' area since the robot was very large. "Okay, maybe this might do something. I think this orb like thing is the power core." Jeremie said as he twisted the core a little.

As Jeremie twisted the core into a different position, a number of lights on the inside flicked on and the various parts inside began to move as the chest plates closed. Jeremie managed to pull his hands out just in time as the plates closed and the small round flat dials in the various points on it's body. The robots eye lenses opened and turned to a blue color as it then raised it's arms and grabbed Jeremie by the upper arms, holding them in place as it then leaned up and in a one swift robotic motion, pulled it's weight up and got back onto it's two feet.

"Jeremie!" Aelita shouted.

Z pulled his handgun out and aimed it at the back of the robots head. "That wont do anything Z! It's armor is too powerful for that guns type of bullets!" Deo almost yelled as he raised his hand up to try and stop him.

Jeremie couldn't even protest as the robot held him firmly enough to not bruise him, but not able to struggle out of it's grip. The robot stared right at him with cold blue eyes.

(Robots FP) Jeremie was highlighted as a diagnostic program with the various numbers and letters crunching on and on was in the bottom right of it's vision. A balance indicator with a round circle and several other lines was in the top right part. A continues list of different words and other interactive systems was in the top left part of it's vision. A global position indicator was in the left bottom part of it's vision and a compass like waypoint was at the bottom that moved depending on what way the robot was standing.

(Back to normal view) The robot continued to look at Jeremie as everyone froze up, not knowing what to do as their friend was being held in the robots very hands. "Registering user. Registration complete. User loaded into system logs. Identify your name." The robot said with a tone that seemed to have more feeling to it.

"Wh- wh- what?" Was all Jeremie could say.

"Repeat, identify name." The robot repeated.

"Jeremie Belpois. That's my name." He answered.

"Jeremie Belpois registered. Standing by for orders." The robot said as it gently put him down and it's eyes then turned back to a clear lenses color.

"Ummm, orders? like what?" Was all he could ask, scratching his head.

"Orders, commands, instructions." The robot replied.

"Uhh, stand on your left leg." Jeremie ordered. The robot complied and lifted his right leg to stand only on it's left leg without question. "Wow. Okay then, why don't you start by telling us who you are." Jeremie asked.

"My designated title is Alpha. Combat battle-mech with a multitude of other abilities like repair, diagnostics, environmental scanning, hacking, information, tracking, and many more." The robot Alpha said, going over the list of his ability's.

"So Alpha, not that we are angry. But you almost killed us with your laser guns." William said while resisting to yell.

"You kept saying something about destroying Techborg's. Do you have any idea what that is?" Deotalus asked.

"Yeah, you rampaged around shooting blindly at nothing until we managed to short you out." Ulrich added.

Alpha made a few low beeping noises that came from his head before responding. "Scans show that the laser burns all around us are from my laser cannons. But as for my uncontrolled attack, I cannot access my memory systems prior to my reactivation. As for the Techborg's, I have no access to any memory of the ones called Techborg's either." Alpha replied.

"Well looks like we got a robot with amnesia. That's gotta be a first." Yumi wondered.

"So then Al, do you know how you got in this base, or who built you?" Odd asked him.

"Incorrect, my designated name is Alpha. And as how I got in this base or who built me, I have no files or memories of either of those." Alpha said to Odd, not getting the nickname.

"Al is short for Alpha, it's a nickname." Odd replied.

"For what reason would you need to shorten my name? It serves no purpose." Alpha asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Somebody needs to install a personality into this guy." Ralfaius said, pointing with his thumb.

"So anyway Alpha, we've actually been looking for you in a sense. We have a long story to tell you." Aelita said walking closer to him.

"What story do you have to tell? Is it important?" Alpha asked with a curious tone.

"Okay guy's, let's tell this guy the story one last time." Jeremie said. And with that, the gang told Alpha their story one last time. They told him about their life on Earth, and their battles with Xana up until they were sent to Earthera, and that they have been chosen by destiny to defeat Xana. They told him about how they found the others, and the struggles with that as well to get them to join. Finally after an hour, they finished the story up to their current present.

Alpha patiently waited until they were finished. After they we're done, Alpha finally spoke. "Your vocal patterns have shown me that none of you are lying. From what you have told, the one you call Xana sounds like a high priority target and must be destroyed." Alpha replied.

"We have the amulet, if you want, swear to join our cause and we can begin our journey to fight Xana." Aelita said as she took out the amulet and presented it to him.

Alpha took it and held it up to his face. "Scans show that this amulet is emitting an unknown energy signature and is made of unidentified materials." Alpha said after he finished analyzing it. "Now commence swearing to join. I, Alpha, swear to join your cause and defeat Xana." Alpha said. The gang looked with joy as the orb shined, but then something happened. The orb flashed and reverted back to the arrow still pointing at Alpha. "There seems to be an error." Alpha said, looking at them.

"I don't understand? He swore to join, yet it's still pointing to him?" Aracane said surprised.

"This has never happened before. This amulet has acted very strange, but it has never denied allowing us to join after swearing to join." Aelita added after taking back the amulet.

"Maybe it doesn't sense your soul or maybe it... doesn't sense robots?" Ulrich said, wishing he didn't say that last past that way.

"Irrelevant. The soul is simply a means to express personality and emotions." Alpha replied.

"But then what about magic? That's real because me and many others can use it." Jack asked, interested in his response.

"Magic is a form of alteration and manipulation of objects and environment and even people brought on by bending the laws of physics and the space-time continuum based on how the user cast it." Alpha said, surprising Jack.

"Hey I have an idea. Why don't we head back to the lab where Jeremie founded you. We might find a way to reload your memory." Aelita said, changing the subject.

"Yeah, Aelita's right. We might even find out about these Techborg's too." Jeremie added.

"Affirmative, lead the way to the laboratory. I have no recall of where the room is either." Alpha replied.

"Alright then, lead the way Jeremie." Odd said. The gang and Alpha followed Jeremie to the lab as they couldn't help notice all the laser burns on the walls. Finally they made it to the lab and went inside through the busted doors that Alpha broke down earlier. They then began to look over the place for anything that they could use.

"This place seems to be someone's personal lab. Unlike the other places, this room has no marking on the map." Z said while looking through some old books.

Alpha walked over to the pod that matched his armor plating and looked at it very close. "From what my analysis shows, I emerged from this pod only two hours and fifty minutes ago." He said, looking over the pod.

"There's nothing in here but a bunch of old books and journals with the computers damaged as well." Eli'ton said as he casually flipped through a book he picked up.

"Allow me to access the computer, I can put power into it and even repair and restore the damaged data." Alpha asked Jeremie.

"Sure go ahead, but you don't need my permission to do it, or every little thing." Jeremie replied. Alpha tilted his head again not sure on how to respond. He walked over to one of the old computers and raised his right arm as a cable then came out from the side of his wrist. The head part got near a port and even changed it's shape so it could plug in. The computer came back alive as the screen then began to load data into Alpha's databank. After a minute Alpha turned back to them.

"I have managed to retrieve data, but it has nothing to do with me or this base. Just irrelevant data on experiments that happened here." Alpha said to them.

"Hold on, these old computers save data that have been loaded on them, but the thing is they need to connect to a line that hooks up with the mainframe that has all the data ever stored in this base. If you do that Alpha, you might find out more about you, especially in the restricted files." Deotalus said with his finger pointing up.

"Where are we going to find it? This place is huge." Ralfaius asked.

"I already loaded the layout to this base from the computer. Mission started. Find mainframe. Load all data files on this base." Alpha said as the title of his announced mission file came up from his point of view. **(A/N: Basically if you played fallout, Alpha loads missions like that when you find a new quest in the game)**

"That's so cool, he loads missions just like one of my game too!" Miodelus said.

Alpha then lead the gang to the mainframe. As they continued to go down the levels, Alpha even managed to get some of the power back on in the halls from the back-up generators using another cable that came out of his arm to take control of the fuse boxes. Finally they made it to the last level after walking many flights of stairs down. The halls and rooms of the very last level had a much colder feel to it and even the glass windows that looked into the labs had a slight frost on them all.

"Why is it so much colder down here then the other levels?" Yumi asked as she rubbed her arms to shake off the cold.

"This base is deep underground. The deeper the level, the colder it gets until reaching the core." Deotalus said.

"Hey Kairaree, if your species are reptiles, then how come your not really affected by the cold?" Odd asked.

"Well your right, my species are reptile like. But we aren't bothered anymore or any less by the cold like any other species." Kairaree replied.

"It's because your species can generate your own core temperature like other sentient species. It was critical to your species evolutionary survival." Alpha said.

"So you have data on the physiology of all sentient species on this planet?" Z asked.

"Yes. I found it in my memory banks. It is there so I can kill more efficiently." Alpha replied, not even changing his calm tone.

"He look, there's the mainframe door. We found the place." Leadonus said pointing to it.

"Finally, we've been walking this hallway forever." Aracane added.

The mainframe door was two panels that were much larger and thicker then the other doors with five long bars connected all the way down the door. "So... how are we going to get in here? The door is sealed and we need the main power back on. And then we will need the access codes to open the door. And I doubt that we will find the keycard lying around." Deotalus said as he looked the door over.

"Allow me to open the door." Alpha said as he walked in front of it. He raised his arms and like a machine on a assembly line, drove his fingers into the doors center where they part and began to pull. His system began to struggle as a slight grinding sound was made. Just then, the flat dials on the top of his hands, top part of his forearms, elbow joints, and top part of his shoulders began to spin fast with a yellow glow from the grooves as the gang stood back a little as the door began to slowly open. The bars even began to stretch and break. Alpha finally ripped the door open as he shoved them back into the open position and the dials stopped spinning. "The door is now open. We can go in." Alpha said, turning to them.

"What are those dials on your body suppose to be? They spun like crazy." Bel'la asked, pointing to the dials.

"It appears to be some form of powering my strength. I will need to run a full diagnostics on my systems later. Now let us proceed inside and load the mainframe data into my files." Alpha replied as he then walked in with the others following.

The power was on in the massive room. Inside was a tall computer system that went all the way to the roof of the room was also the places main core. There was a long walkway that lead to the mainframe with a few computer monitors at the base of the mainframe to control it in front of them. Under the walkway was thousands of large cables that connected to all the rooms in the base.

"This is it. The mainframe. I will connect to it and download all data. I will need to go into a shutdown state to open all files. It will take a few minutes." Alpha said to them. The top parts of his chest opened as two black cables came out and snaked their way to the monitors and then six black smaller cables with tiny white lights on the tips extended out and then connected to the cables that would lead to the data files. The computer monitors turned back on as he put power back into the system. The monitors came back on as the files began to load into his memory from the mainframe. Alpha's eyes turned to a yellow color as he then froze up and seemed to shutdown as he began to load the data.

"Amazing, he has fiber-optic cables that can connect and access to computers with out having to actually plug in." Deotalus said with a wide grin as he walked over to look at the cables as they moved every now and then.

"Guys, I've been thinking." Z said, catching everyone's attention.

"What is it Z?" Kairaree asked him.

"When the amulet didn't allow Alpha to join, I couldn't help but notice that he swore because he was told to, not because he wanted to." Z said to them all.

"So... we we're kinda just told to join too. What's the big deal?" Eli'ton asked.

"True, we did join after being told, but that's just it. We we're told to join by being asked, and then we choose to join by our own free will while Alpha joined because he was ordered. So maybe he needs to join out of his own free will." Z replied.

"In case you haven't noticed, he doesn't seem to have much in the 'free will' part of his files if you get what I mean." Odd said, using air quotes.

"Well he seems capable of learning. Maybe we just need to teach him on how to be independent like you all taught me." Aelita added.

"There isn't exactly a book on this kind of thing. But he has the ability to process information, then maybe he can learn like people do as they get older." Deotalus said while still looking at the cables from Alpha's chest.

"It may be a lot of work to teach him. So we need to try and leave after he's done with loading the data before Ukai and his men find us." Yumi said as she leaned against the rails.

The cables in Alpha's chest came loose and retracted back into his chest. "Data transfer complete. All files loaded into systems. I will scan and find any links to me and this base." Alpha said as he turned to them.

"You can scan them on the way back to Xana when I kill these idiots and bring their heads to him." Ukai yelled out to them. Everyone turned and saw Ukai and a few of his men, and even one of the strange armored men that was with Ukai earlier, standing in the opened doorway.

"I was wondering when that asshole was going to find us." Knulgen said as he drew his sword.

"And I was wondering how I should rip your heads off. Should I do it quickly so the walls can be painted with a jetstream of blood? Our should I do it slow so you can hear the bones and tendons in your necks snap and break, and the skin and muscles rip before you die?!" Ukai said as his eyes glowed red a little from his sadistic rant.

"You're a sick monster!" Aelita said with disgust.

"Oh don't you worry little pinkling, Xana want's you alive. So I will only make you watch as your friends die one at a time." Ukai replied as he and his men began to walk in slowly.

"I will not allow you to cause any harm to them. I will protect them with my being." Alpha said as he walked in front of the gang.

"Silence you tincan! As if I would ever be afraid of a robot. Now you can either come with me in one piece. Or when I deliver you to Xana, there may be some 'assembly required' with you." Ukai chuckled.

"Your threats are pointless, I do not fear termination. But I will not... I will not allow you to harm my... friends." Alpha replied, not sure where that last part came from.

"You? And them? Friends with you?" Ukai practically yelled before laughing hysterically as his men joined in the laughter. "Shut-up you idiots!" Ukai turned and yelled at his men when he finished laughing. "You are a machine. Nothing more then a pile of equipment and parts. You will never be an equal to them. Just something for them to use for they're gain. Now if you come with me to take you to Xana, then at least he will give you a real purpose." Ukai said with a smirk.

"That's not true Alpha, we would never just use you for our gain. I know what it's like to not feel like you belong anywhere, considering where you came from". Aelita said as she walked over to where Alpha was standing in front of the gang.

"But my friends risked their lives to bring me to the real world. It's true that I was a human, a real person all along. But even if I wasn't, my friends would have still treated me like one of them. And when we were sent to this planet, our new friends accepted us as they're friends too, despite the fact that we we're strangers, aliens on their very planet, but they still treated us as friends all the same." Aelita continued as she took one of Alpha's large fingers into her hand.

"So the way I see it, your no different then the rest of us. You're the final warrior, the one that can help us all bring peace and stop Xana forever." Aelita finished as a single tear ran down her cheek from all the great memories she shared with her friends.

Alpha raised his other hand and gently wiped the tear away with his rubber like finger and looked at it closely. "Friends? I have friends?" Alpha wondered.

"Oh please stop, I'm going to be sick from all this cookie-cutter sob story. Wake up little girl! Your world and this world are no different. It's full of killing, corrupt politicians, bullshit celebrity garbage, crime lords running wild and free, pointless wars of the most trivial of things, and just plain bad people. There's no room for people like you, especially as cute as you because these kind of worlds will just use you and spit you out, and leave you on the side of the streets like some worn out whore after everyone's had their fun with you." Ukai shouted to her.

"Enough! I know now what I must do. I see that this world has all kinds of evil running to it's very core. But after being with them in only a short amount of time they have showed me that all can be equal. But as for you, from what I have heard, you are not free Ukai." Alpha said pointing to him.

"What?!" Ukai said with a raised eyebrow.

"You are a slave to the one called Xana. Doing his bidding without question, I actually know what pity is now, and that is all I feel for you. But either way I will defeat you and your master Xana. And I will do it with my new friends too." Alpha said as his eyes turned red.

"_Growls_, You clunker, I will ship you to Xana in pieces. Take that robot down now! Rocket team!" Ukai yelled as two men from the hall ran in with multi-shot missile launchers and aimed at Alpha.

"Aelita move!" Alpha shouted as he gently pushed her back and ran towards the men. They pulled the triggers and the missiles shot out. Alpha raised his arms as the two missiles hit him. The explosion rang out in the room as the smoke died down with Alpha stumbling around.

"No! Alpha! Say something!" Jeremie said as he ran up and in front of him. Alpha leaned down in front of him as his eyes went dark again, frozen where he stood. "No, please no!" He pleaded as he tried to shake his shoulders but Alpha didn't even budge.

"Ha ha ha ha. And another thing about friends, they die for each other so pointlessly as well. Now capture the rest men. I want to kill them with my own bare hands." Ukai said as his men got closer.

"Jeremie! Get back over here, hurry!" Ulrich yelled as they all got ready for a fight.

Jeremie turned to face Ukai and his men as they got closer and closer. A loud power up noise came from Alpha as his eyes came back on with a orange glow in them. "Alpha?" Jeremie said as he turned his head to the revived robot.

"Systems back on line. User Jeremie recognized. Commence user merging tactic." Alpha said in a more robotic tone as the same black cables from the top part of his chest and four more cables came out from the lower parts of his chest and wrapped around Jeremie's torso.

"Alpha what is this? What are you?-" Was all Jeremie could say as his entire body glowed white and his body then disappeared and the cables then retracted back into his robotic body. Everyone in the room, even Ukai's men were stunned as Jeremie was completely gone.

"What... just... happened?" Yumi said as she dropped her fans in shock.

"Did he just get vaporized or something?" Odd asked.

"Cool!" Mio said which Lea then slapped him upside his head.

"What did you do Alpha?" Sam said almost yelling at him.

Alpha stood there as some small sounds came from his head. "User materialization complete. Commence piloted battle mode. Awaiting your orders Jeremie." Alpha said as his hands folded and his laser cannons came out.

"What is this? What's going on here?" Ukai said as he backed away a little.

"I'm fine guys, don't worry about me." Jeremies voice said, coming out of nowhere. His friends gasped as Alpha turned to them. "I'm inside Alpha, and it feels great!" His voice seem to come out of Alpha's head.

"Yes, Jeremie is safe. And as for you and your men Ukai, not so much." Alpha said as he turned to Ukai and his men as he raised his laser cannons while charging, and Alpha's eyes turned blood red again, ready for battle.

**END CHAPTER.**


	21. MAN AND MACHINE

**CHAPTER 21: MAN AND MACHINE**

Alpha opened fire on Ukai and his men without another word. Ukai managed to jump up and grab onto the large cables on the roof and crawled away as if he was in his natural habitat. As for his men, not so lucky as Alpha's lasers tore right through them without effort, ending the small group of troops. Ukai jumped down and ran back out into the hall with a roar to rally the rest of his men.

"Mission started: drive Ukai and his men out of the base." Alpha said in affirmative tone.

"Sounds like a damn good plan to me." Knulgen said with a crazed smile.

"Guys it's me Jeremie, Alpha and me will fight Ukai's men away. He will be more then enough to handle them now that this new program is unlocked, Alpha has more access to his ability's." Jeremie's disembodied voice said.

"Alright then guys, let's help drive out his men." Z said as he cocked his borrowed assault rifle.

Alpha walked out the room with his laser guns ready with the gang behind them. They walked up to the fourteenth floor to continue looking for Ukai and his men. There was an eerie calm as they all slowly walked the halls of the abandoned base. They turned a corner into a much larger hallway.

"There they are! Open fire!" One of Ukai's troops shouted as the hall was filled with bullets. Thankfully Alpha was in front of them and the gangs quick reaction managed to make them take cover back in the halls and out of the enemies bullets. The bullets clinked off Alpha's armor without even making a scratch as he charged both his laser guns and blasted two big long lasers at the rows of enemy troops causing a huge explosion, killing or injuring them all.

"Wonderful, fifteen down, less then three hundred to go." Leadonus said. Suddenly three men with combat machetes jumped out but Lea thankfully struck them down with his scythe without effort before the rest could even take notice. "Three more down." He said without a change in his tone.

"Ukai and his men will loose moral if we keep at this pace." Ralfaius said as he twirled his sais.

"Sensors show that more of his men are up through out the levels. I have hacked into their radio frequency, they are now pulling out the big guns and Ukai even authorized deadly force on you all except Aelita." Alpha said to them.

"Xana must really want you bad Aelita, and I doubt it's because he likes you." Sam said to her.

"That's pretty much half the story of my life since I left Lyoko." Aelita replied.

"We can tell stories about Lyoko later. Right now I need to get my fight on!" Knulgen shouted as he ran out from the hall they were hiding in and away from the gang on his own as he jumped over the corpses of Alpha's targets.

"No Knulgen! We need to fight them together!" Kairaree shouted to him, but he was already gone.

"That lunatic is going to get himself killed one day. Or worst, all of us." Bel'la said, shaking her head in shame at him.

"My echo scans show that he is running towards a large group of enemy troops. If we hurry, we might catch up to him." Alpha said as he began to lead them.

"He's right guy's, let's move." Jeremie's voice said as they all began to follow.

()()()()()()()()

Knulgen ran down the halls with a wide grin as he looked for Ukai's men. He then found five with dual combat machetes. They spotted him and went after him. Knulgen blocked the first ones blade before kicking him away and slashing him across the chest killing him. The other two tried to get him from behind, but Knulgen ducked down and rolled, then kicked they're blades out of their hands in a break-dance style as he jumped back up and sliced them down. The other one came from behind him but he turned his blade backwards and got him in the chest without even turning around as the enemy troop fell back dead.

"Now just one more." Knulgen said to himself as he turned and saw him, but the troop ran away. "Hey come back here and die like the rest of your buddies." Knulgen shouted as he ran after him.

()()()()()()()()

The gang caught up and saw Knulgen's handy work of the dead men at their feet. "Well we know that Knulgen was here. So he can't be too far." Eli'ton said as he looked around.

"Yyyeee-hhhhaaaa!" The gang heard Knulgen shouting down the hall.

"Found him..." The gang said at once.

()()()()()()()()

Knulgen was gaining on the enemy troop as they got further down the hall. He finally got close enough as he jumped and sliced the man across his back and fell to the ground dead. Knulgen stood over his kill before turning to see twenty more troops aiming at him. They opened fire as Knulgen quickly jumped back into the hall, but he knew that they we're going to come after him.

The gang heard the gunshots and went to investigate. They soon found Knulgen and a hail of bullets coming in his direction. They took cover in the many connecting halls as Ukai's troops began to make their way to them while still firing.

"Hey there Knulgen, made some new friends I see." Yumi said with a sarcastic tone.

Odd and Sam were in one part of a hallway alone as the enemy troops continued to fire down the halls. Unknown to the two, a troop came out from the dark and grabbed Sam from behind, holding her in his arms in a very strong grip.

"Odd, help!" Sam called out to him.

Odd turned and instinctively took his purple bow and draw it with an arrow, aiming right at the tall mans head. "Let her go now!" Odd demanded as a small growl came from his throat.

"Dammit..." The man said through his helmet, waiting for Odd's arrow. But Odd just stood there with his arms shaking as the arrow began to slip from it's position. "Are you kidding me? What good is carrying around a weapon if your not going to use it kitty? Well that's your mistake, you can watch your little friend die." He shouted as Odd accidentally dropped the arrow and it hit the floor.

Sam then managed to free her arm and grab her blunt tonfa and hold it by the handle and hit him in the stomach with the long part and made him drop her. As he let her go and grip his stomach in pain, Sam then turned and hit him upside the head with the other end of her tonfa as the man fell to the ground unconscious.

"I'll show you what good my weapon is when I use it on you, you bastard!" Sam shouted with tears in her eyes as she flipped him over and pulled out her bladed tonfa and held it over his neck and began to bring it down.

"Sam! No!" Odd shouted, but Sam thankfully stopped just in time as a few of her tears hit the ground.

"I- I can't do it." She said as she removed her blade and put it back in her back sheath.

"It's alright Sam, I couldn't do it either, but you're safe now." Odd said as he ran over to where she was and helped her up.

"Thank you Odd. Now let's help our friends." Sam replied with a smile. The others didn't even notice what happened with Sam and Odd since they were farther from the others and in they're own hallways and the sound of gunfire from the enemy troops drowned out their struggle.

Odd stood there looking at the unconscious man as he picked up his arrow and looked at his claw gauntlets. "Would I have really done it if I could?" He said to himself before joining the rest.

Z was behind a crate and firing from cover before he loaded a fresh clip from his belt. He ejected the old one onto a small pile of empty clips and shells. Ha managed to kill a few but the troops military armor did what it did, and protected them from his gun. "Damn, I'm not use to fighting in small halls, we need to change tactics." Z said after another round of cover fire.

"I concur. Initiate full battle mode." Alpha said as he came out from his hallway cover. He began to fire away and mow down the enemy troops, some managed to get away just in time before being killed. Suddenly a door not far from them was blown off as two men with miniguns came out and charged up they're guns. They fired at Alpha at the same time, but the large robot didn't even seemed to be bothered by the storm of bullets.

"Time to acquire those weapons." Alpha said as he charged towards them with the sound of his heavy footsteps stomping. Alpha reached the freaked out guards and grabbed both of them by the heads, making them stop firing and bashed their helmeted heads together, knocking them out cold. Alpha then took off the bullet container packs and slung them onto his back, then picked up both guns by the trigger handles without even have to hold the other handles. "Weapons acquired." Alpha then said.

"Good idea Alpha, those guns have over five thousand rounds. It will defiantly keep them back." Z said as he took some ammo from the fallen enemies.

"How many more do we need to take out before Ukai and his men retreat?" Miodelus asked.

"We'll kill them all if we have to." Aracane answered with his ax ready.

"More enemy targets in route, I will clear a path." Alpha said. He then lead them the way again until they approached a sealed door. Alpha opened fire with his miniguns on the door. The bullets tore into the sealed door where the enemies were behind. The door was torn to pieces by the bullets until Alpha charged and rammed right through it and opened fire on the enemy troops as they fell victim to the guns. Finally the guns were out and Alpha threw them aside and began to attack the remaining enemies in the large room with his laser guns.

"Don't hog all the fun Alpha, save some for us." Knulgen shouted as he ran into the large room and swung away with his sword at the enemies.

"I see no fun going on right now. And what does a hog have to do with this?" Alpha asked as he held an enemy troop by the neck.

"We really got a lot to teach you Al." Kairaree said as she threw two of her daggers and then used her chain weapon to entangle a few in her chain then used the sickle like part to finish them off.

The rest came in ready for battle. Aracane was fighting several with combat issued hand axes, but the muscle-bound Arachun fought them without effort as his battle ax was way to strong. The four Aquamarin brothers charged in with they're own group of enemies as Leadonus and Deotalus attacked with their scythe and trident while Ralfaius and Miodelus took out they're targets at close range with their sais and bladed nun-chucks.

The twins as usual work hand in hand as Bel'la practically danced with her blade-staff as her really long light blue hair flew with her movements. Eli'ton blocked and countered with his arm blades and delivered fatal blows to the enemies since his full body armor was far too strong against their armor.

The way how Z fought was straight out of an action movie as he used one of his main handgun and a long combat knife to both disarm and kill as more and more troops tried to gang up on him. But thanks to his highly tuned reflexes, he finished them off with deadly and precise shots.

After the enemies he was fighting were dead, he lowered his guard for only a moment before another jumped at him with a long combat machete that has a big body and no point, and struck at Z. But Z quickly turned just in time and blocked with his left arm, making a loud clink noise and confusing the troop as Z quickly reacted and took the big machete out of his hands and struck a killing blow. "Looks like I got a new weapon." Z said to himself as he twirled the handle in his hand a few times.

Jack did fine on his own and with the power of the Excalion and Bishop's great training, Jack made short work of them as his massive sword cut them down with ease.

The Earth born members stayed close and fought the enemy troops off by hitting them in very painful places and even inflicted a few cuts on them to chase them off. More men came into the large room and the last few had rocket launchers. "Take the robot down first!" One of them shouted as they aimed at Alpha and fired.

Alpha's sensors locked on the rockets trajectory by creating a timed path from his point of view and intercepted the rocket by catching it by the long end. The rocket continued to expel it's rocket fuel until it was out, barely making Alpha's arm move. The troops panicked and fired again but Alpha managed to intercept again with his other hand. Alpha then threw both rockets with enough force to make the heads detonate right next to the enemy troops, blowing them all away.

"I'm really glad we have you on our side Alpha, if we we're fighting you, we might not have stood a chance." Jeremie said to him as he observed Alpha's fighting through his robotic eyes.

"Even though I don't have a full analysis on all of your friends fighting abilities. My sensors show that you're armed friends would only have a 5.8% of being able to defeat me with the current weapons you all wield." Alpha said as he looked over his analysis. "Although, scans also show that your armed friends ability to defeat the enemy troops, despite they're military level weapons and training, your friends have a 96.3% of defeating them without my help." Alpha said, finishing his analysis.

"Umm,that's good to know, I guess." Jeremie replied.

"If you are done going over each others notes, we need to keep moving." Knulgen said as he walked up to them.

"And we also don't need to charge into enemy lines without thinking either Knulgen!" Ulrich almost yelled at him.

"We can yell at Knulgen for being a reckless bastard later. I'm sure more are coming our way." Aracane said as he wiped the blood off his axes heads.

"Good, my sais don't get used this much."Ralfaius added as he twirled his large diamond shape-tipped sais by the rings under the prong side of his weapons.

"There are more on the third level. My scans also show that the one called Ukai is up there. We need to end this now if we are going to continue looking for Xana." Alpha said.

"We will lead the charge, you guys just stay close and Alpha and me will do the heavy lifting." Jeremie said to them.

"I don't think I'm ever going to get use to your voice coming out of nowhere Jeremie." Ulrich said.

"Jeremie's voice is not coming out of nowhere. His voice is transmitting from my speech synthesizer, but I don't need to move my mouth when he talks." Alpha corrected.

"Do you have to correct us on everything?" Sam asked, but Alpha simply tilted his head.

The gang began to make their way back up through the many levels until they were on the third level, knowing that Ukai and his men were waiting for them all. Alpha stood in front of the others since his sensors detected that the troops had they're assault rifles ready as they all made their way to the large room where the enemies stood ready for them.

"So what's the plan guys? There's way too many of them to fight head on." Eli'ton said as he peeked over from the hall that they were in. The room Ukai and his men were in was very large, it seemed to be some kind of main room with an open top that goes all the way up to the second level with more troops ready to fight.

"I will attack first, they're weapons are not strong enough to damage my armor anyway. So it only makes sense that I attack first." Alpha said as he began to walk out into the room.

"But Alpha, you don't need to do this just because-" Aelita tried to say but.

"I know what your thinking Aelita, but I am doing this because I want to, not because it's the logical choice. I make my own decisions." Alpha replied as he looked over to her before heading into the room.

Alpha stormed in without even giving the enemy troops a chance to react as he the eight foot red robot blasted away with his gatling-gun lasers and blasted down the rows of enemies. Just then, Alpha's large shoulders opened at the top as two turret like laser guns came out and started blasting at the same pace to the enemies at the top which either fell from the third level to the fourth, or just fell back dead.

About a few dozen were taken down before the rest of the gang charged in as Z fired away with his assault rifle at the distracted troops. Aracane and Knulgen were once again competing on how many the other could take down as they attacked a group with combat machetes while the Surfane brothers fought at their own pace against another group.

Kairaree fought with grace as her chain flew and her dagger sliced away, hitting in the most deadliest locations. Jack was surrounded as he held his sword up, ready to swing as they got closer until Jack summoned some of his power and the blade of the Excalion glowed white and Jack did a powerful spin around swing and killed all the men that surrounded him as they fell to the floor with blood pouring out of their wounds.

Bel'la and Eli'ton still were unmatched as they fought together as if they were one, as troop after troop fell to they're weapons. The Earth born gang stayed at the doorway as they kept watch over the others.

"Retreat! Retreat now!" A higher ranking solider shouted as the rest that was still alive began to run out.

"No! Stay and fight you cowards! Do not let a bunch of teens and a rusty robot scare you off!" Ukai shouted to his men from the third level rails, but they didn't even listen as more then half their numbers were taken out, they have lost the will to fight.

"It's over Ukai. It is meaningless to continue fighting. Retreat with whatever amount of men you have left." Alpha said to him as he retracted his guns. Ukai growled with pure rage as he jump down and landed on his three clawed feet without a problem and ran after Alpha.

"I'll show you a meaningless fight when I kill all your friends!" Ukai roared as he got in his four-legged position and charged. Ukai leaped and was about to claw away, but Alpha caught him and locked their fingers as Ukai landed on the ground. They stood there with their hands locked, their palms held up as they stared at each other. Ukai with pure hate in his eyes while Alpha's lenses even slanted to show frustration at him.

Alpha then knew it was time to end this battle as he increased his strength and bend Ukai's hands back and made Ukai kneel with a pained groan as he tightened his grip on the beast. Alpha then pushed away Ukai's right hand and a gray blade with a red glow all around the double bladed high tech melee weapon came out of Alpha's top part of his wrist and slashed a huge gash across Ukai's chest, leaving a burning cut as Ukai roared in pain. Alpha then released Ukai's other hand and made a new weapon come out. The barrel was shorter but had a larger opening. The weapon charged and fired a big blast of laser like a shotgun and made Ukai fly back all the way to the end of the room, hitting and indenting the wall and fell to the floor unconscious.

Ukai had a huge burn on top of the large cut and wasn't even moving as six troops came and lifted him up. Two of them took an arm each and two more got under his chest and the final two picked up his legs and ran off slowly with Ukai still unconscious. The rest of the enemy troops finally abandoned the old base. The gang gave chase and followed them all the way up the last two levels and all the way out the large door to make sure the troops were all gone as most of the gang stood outside and watched as the troops jump into the moving trucks, leaving only one since they're numbers were cut down to less then half. The gang and their new warrior have won the day.

The gang cheered and celebrated except for Z who just stood there with a quiet demeanor. "We did it guys! Fuck those bastards!" Knulgen cheered and flipped his middle finger in the direction of the fleeing enemies.

"We did it guys. We drove them off, and we did it as a team." Kairaree said as she sheathed her dagger and put the chain weapon back in her satchel.

"We have made our ancestors proud guys." Jack added as he 'sheathed' his sword on his back which just seemed to stick to his back.

"Okay guys, now we may have won, but since it's getting late, we might as well sleep in here tonight and get started in the morning. So some of us need to try and clean out the bodies while some of us go get our packs in the forest before nightfall." Z said to keep them focused.

"My brothers and I will go get the backpacks while the rest of you get started." Leadonus said as he and his brothers silently agreed and began to head back to the forest.

"I'll give them a hand guys, that base was getting stuffy for me anyway." Odd said as he followed the Aquamarin brothers.

"Then let's get back inside and begin the tedious work of body handling." Aracane said.

"Wait a minute. Have you guys forgotten? Jeremie is still inside Alpha. How are we gonna-" Sam said, pointing to their new robot friend before he interrupted.

"I will let him out of my system now." Alpha said as his chest plates opened and the core in his chest glowed and in a flash, Jeremie was materialized right in front of them. He wobbled a little as Yumi and Ulrich came to help him keep his balance.

"It's going to take me some time to get used to that." Jeremie said as he rubbed his head to shake off the dizziness.

"You will be fine, the materialize interface program has no long or short term effects, and I will continue to monitor your vitals as a precaution." Alpha assured him.

"Then let's get going before the bodies start stinking up the joint." Eli'ton said as he flipped his helmet opened and off since he doesn't need it anymore right now.

Before Aelita and Jeremie got back in, she stopped him to ask him a question. "Jeremie, I know your still not really feeling good, but what does this gesture that Knulgen made mean?" Aelita asked as she held out her middle finger the same way Knulgen did.

"I'll... tell you later Aelita, just please don't go around doing that in public." Jeremie said as he quickly went inside.

As the gang went inside and headed to the third level to begin the clean up, something suddenly caught their attention. "My sensors are picking up a sudden increase in heat in various places." Alpha alerted them.

"You can sense the heat, but I smell something burning." William said as he pinched his nose.

"It smells like... it smells like burning flesh." Aracane said as everyone picked up the pace and ran into the big double level room and what they saw shocked them all.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" Miodelus said as he and his brothers and Odd came in with the backpacks.

"What is going on?!" Leadonus shouted.

In the room with the dead enemy troops bodies were burning with a deep red that didn't even spread anywhere else. The bodies continued to burn until the bodies were nothing but a pile of ashes in the shape the dead troops where they laid. The fire died down and all evidence of them destroyed.

Deotalus put down a few of the backpacks he was carrying and walked over to a nearby body and grabbed his trident. He slowly poked the body and it crumbled a little as the ashes gently scattered.

"Son of a bitch. I've heard of this, but I never thought it was actually real." Z said as he took a closer look.

"You've heard of this? What is it? What caused their bodies to burn?" Ralfaius asked.

"These guys are wearing a Thermite Detonation Suit, or T.D.S. It's a layer of clothing that's like a vest, but they wear it under their military clothes. It has a devise that is either linked up to they're heartbeats or a remote trigger, and when they die it must go off after awhile." Z explained to them.

"And what's the point of it? Why burn the bodies like this?" Miodelus asked.

"It's because it's made with thermite and mixed with several other oxides to have it burn at it's high temperature, but not burst out of control in a blaze of fire like thermite does. And as for why, it's to destroy any trace of both the person and anything they would have that would lead back to where ever they came from." Deotalus jumped in since he heard of the T.D.S too.

"In other words, leading back to Xana and where ever he's hiding." Aelita said as she looked in disgust at the ashed bodies.

"Well look at it this way guys. We don't need to clean up after all." Bel'la said, knowing there was no point in talking about it anymore.

"Then in that case, let's head back to the cafeteria so we can dig around for any leftover canned food." Odd said as he began to head that way.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang found the cafeteria again after passing a few ash piles of bodies and went into the cafeteria. As expected, the room was just as beat up and worn out with the tables either turned over or broken and the trays were all over the place or smashed, and the silverware all rusted and old. They then began to search the canned food which it's labels were long since worn and rotted away so they pretty much had to take a chance with what they could eat.

Alpha took the liberty to scan the food inside to make sure if it really was safe to eat since it was sitting there for over sixty years. "Hey guys, what do you think is in this room?" Odd asked as he walked over to a large fridge door.

"Wait Odd, don't open that door!" Z shouted, but it was too late as Odd opened it and the many decades old smell of long rotted away meat and vegetables came wafting out after being trapped for over six decades before Odd slammed it shut and almost threw-up from the smell.

"That's twice in one day that I got blasted by a horrible stink." Odd said as he locked the door as a precaution against the smell.

"Well you know what they say Odd. Curiosity killed the cat." Yumi joked.

"Odd is not a cat. He is a sentient species known as Cataranions." Alpha corrected, not understanding Yumi's joke.

"Sentient may be too strong of a word for Odd." Ulrich teased and Odd turned to him and made a small growl at him.

"Okay break it up before we have another fight." Aelita said as she walked over to Alpha. "So Alpha, want to try to join us again now that Ukai and his men are gone?" Aelita asked as she held up the amulet to him.

"Yes I would like to try again. I think I have much more clarity now." Alpha said as he took the amulet and held it up to him. "I am Alpha, and I swear to join my friends to destroy Xana." Alpha said as he held the amulet. The amulets orb began to glow and then flash very bright until the gems on it all glowed and in a flash, the arrow was gone and the orb only gave off a faint glow.

"So now that all the warriors have been found, what do we do from here on?" William asked.

"I guess we will have to wait for Guardian Warrior and see what he has to say." Jeremie said as he sat down on a old table.

"Well while we're waiting for him, I'm going up to check out that truck. We can get around much better for awhile and avoid any trouble. Alpha, come with me and use your scanners to check for any tracking devices or worst, a self-destruct system." Z said as began to walk to the surface.

"Affirmative, the truck would be a great means of transportation until we can find Xana." Alpha replied as he began to follow Z.

"So guys, now that we have a big bad, and totally awesome battle robot. How are we gonna get around with him? It's not like he could just walk into public like the rest of us. The people are used to seeing wondering warriors, but I doubt eight foot robots." Odd asked the group in hopes of an answer.

"You know Odd, I've actually thought of that and I think I might have a solution. I just need to find a workshop and use a bench." Deotalus said as he was coming up with a plan.

"You mean like the crafting tables in my games Deo? What do you got in mind?" Miodelus asked with excitement.

"Me and Deo will go to the workshop, I think I know what he's up to. But we're gonna need a lot of tarp or some other kind of thick cloth or leather." Jeremie said as both the smart members of the group headed to a nearby workshop.

()()()()()()()()()()()

"I have completed my scans. And I have come to the conclusion that the truck is completely safe to use and has no dangerous devices in it, or any form of tracking devices as well." Alpha said as the blue scanning light that covered the truck projected from a device that came from the side of his head fade away.

"Good, and those idiots even left the keys in the dashboard." Z said as he twirled the keys in his fingers. "It even has a battery cell at almost full power. We can find a fueling station after we get out of these woods some time in the morning." He continued as he locked the door and shut it.

"Z, if I may ask? When I did a scan on you all, I couldn't help but notice that both your-"Alpha tried to say.

"I would appreciate it if you keep it to yourself and not tell the others." Z interrupted Alpha. "I know I can't keep it a secret from them forever. But the thing is, people aren't really comfortable around people in my condition. I thought my cover would have been blown when that guy tried to attack me with that big machete, but thankfully I finished him off before anybody noticed." Z said as he pulled out his new weapon and gave a few swings before putting the big but short weapon back in the sheath.

"I understand. I won't even tell Jeremie. Anyway, now that the truck has been shown to be safe, let's head back in and as you say, call it a night." Alpha said as they began to head back inside.

The two found the others not long after getting back in with Ulrich to greet them. "Hey Alpha, Deo and Jeremie are in the workshop down the hall. They have nice surprise for you." Ulrich said to him. Alpha simply tilted his head in curiosity as he then walked down the hall.

His audio sensors or 'ears' picked up a loud hammering noise as he walked into the room with the word, 'workshop' over the entrance that was faded off, but could still make out the inlet words. He saw Deo hammering on a bench with a pile of scrap metal next to him and Jeremie standing right next to him with a long thick cloth like item that was a very dark sand color and he seemed to be sewing it with a very large needle and steel cable.

"I can't believe we found all this stuff lying around. We could practically rebuild the base with this stuff." Jeremie said to Deo.

"Indeed, they really must have abandoned this place in a hurry and only took the research stuff and left the other things to rot." Deotalus replied as he stopped hammering and put his goggles over his eyes and picked up a hand-held blowtorch and turned it on.

"Jeremie, Deotalus. Is there something you two wanted to give me?" Alpha asked as he walked closer to them.

"Just wait a few more minutes, we're almost finished Alpha." Deo said as he began to use the blowtorch on whatever the two were working on. Sparks flew up in the air as Deo wielded whatever it was the two were working on. After a few minutes Deo turned it off and him and Jeremie began to work together as Jeremie brought the long thick cloth closer and Deo began to combine what they were making.

Jeremie and Deotalus turned around and both gave him a small smile and Alpha simply tilt his head to the unfamiliar gestures. "Alpha, we figured you won't be able to just walk around in towns and city's. And we also figured it wouldn't be fair for you to just stay out of site." Deotalus started.

"So we made you something that would allow you to go around without drawing much attention." Jeremie finished as the two walked aside and revealed what they were making for the big bot.

()()()()()()()()()

"Where the hell are those three? It's been over half an hour." Knulgen said to the group. The gang had found a rec room to sleep in for the night with enough couches to go around, and they even found a few cots and a pool table with a few cues and even all the balls. Ulrich and Odd were playing and Ulrich was beating Odd without effort as he pocketed another one of his solids while Odd twitched his tail in anger.

"What I want to know is, what are those two working on anyway?" Aracane asked as he finished cleaning his ax on the couch he was sitting on.

"Why don't we show you guys." Deotalus said as him and Jeremie came into the room with the others.

"Where's Alpha? I thought he was with you two?" Aelita asked.

"He's right in the hall. Come on in Alpha." Jeremie said as Alpha walked in and surprised the gang.

Alpha was wearing the long heavy cloth worn like a robe that covered his entire body and even had sleeves that went over his fingers with a simply made mask with rectangular eye holes, and the mask was a simple dark gray and didn't draw much attention.

"That's pretty cool guys. With Alpha wearing that, we can get around better." Odd said as Ulrich pocketed the black eight ball and winning the game.

"I calculate that as long as we don't draw attention to us, we will be fine when I wear this." Alpha said as he took the mask and robe off in one motion since it was made to unfurl in various locations.

"At least now we won't have to worry about people freaking out about a eight foot robot stomping around." Yumi added.

The gang then began to settle in for the night after they're long battle. They got a fire going in a barrel with scraps of old wood and moldy papers and other burnable stuff and put it under a large vent for the smoke to vent out, and they even found some large water cooler bottles that were surprisingly in perfect condition since it was nice to have some clean drinking water after a heavy fight.

As the night got late, the gang began to tell Alpha and the others some more stories of their life on Earth, and their days at Kadic Academy as they ate from the old canned food. Just then Alpha seemed to perk up and look around the room, catching the others attention.

"Anomaly detected. High levels of unknown energy centered in this room." Alpha alerted with a ready for a fight tone. As Alpha finished, a bright flash of light shinned in the room and the familiar ethereal being appeared before the gang and they're new member.

"You did it. You all did it! You have found the last warrior and thus completed the circle. The pieces are in place and soon the battles with Xana draw near." GW said to the group with pride.

"You are the one know as Guardian Warrior. My scans show that you give off a very powerful energy signature like the amulet. You are defiantly not from this universe." Alpha said to him.

"That is true Alpha, my kind do not live within this realm. But that doesn't make me any less of a person like you Alpha. Even now I can sense your soul radiating within you." GW said as he placed a hand on his chest that is over his core.

"It's nice to see you again GW, but we have to ask. How did Alpha even get a soul in him, and better yet, who built him?" Jeremie asked, hoping to get some answers.

"I sorry Jeremie, but even we don't know every little thing that goes on in the universe, it's to keep from spoiling all surprises." GW replied to him.

"We may not know who built me, but I have long since completed my analysis from the mainframe. Most of the data has been copied and removed, but I was able to retrieve the deleted data and came across the person who worked in the lab that I was found in." Alpha said as slot opened on his forehead and a lenses like device poked out and a light shined out, and created an image of a person.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kanobi, you're my only hope." Odd said in a shrill tone that made some of his Earth born friends glare at him.

The 3D full color image was of a Arachun with gray eyes and thin features and a slightly lighter blue skin, and short brown hair with a lab coat, but the image only went a little down his shoulders and chest since it was modeled after a picture of the man. "His name is Dargo Tralsfo. According to the mainframe, he was the lead scientist in the base. He specialized in robotics and artificial replacement limbs. In some way, he was one of the people that began the revolution in limb and organ replacements." Alpha said as Mio played with the holographic image by running his hand through it.

"Wait, you mean to tell us that your planet can replace lost limbs and organs with artificial ones?" William asked with amazement.

"Yes. Doesn't your planet?" Z asked.

"Sorta, our planet has made some strides in the artificial limbs and organs, but not so much as to put a artificial organ in someone without any special equipment or limbs that act and move on will by the person." Jeremie said.

"Well our planet has developed artificial organs that are powered the same way real organs are, and limbs that are hooked up to the very nervous-system, sinew, bone, muscle, and tendons for optimal performance and can even feel like a real limb, and also have a fake skin that can match the color tone to whoever it's connected to and even has special parts that can allow the surgeons to make the limbs 'grow' in a sense if the artificial limb is on a young person as they get older." Deotalus explained to his Earth born friends since they didn't know about this.

"You know before those realistic limbs came out over two decades ago, there use to be people with all metal limbs that were much more powerful to a degree that they became illegal to have." Ralfaius added.

"Hey yeah, I've heard of those, they were called Full Metals, and some people even managed to weaponize them with guns and blades inside." Kairaree said.

"Your right Kai. The full metal limbs were very powerful, and making them into deadly weapons was very common when people figured how to work them. Now there very hard to come by and are only found on people in more poorer reigns or people who simply can't afford better. High-grade prosthetic limbs can be a bit expensive." Deotalus informed her.

"So enough with the medical lecture, what does this have to with this guy?" Sam asked, wanting to get back on track.

"Sam is right," Alpha continued. "Dr. Tralsfo was considered ahead of his time with his research and even built some of the first artificial limb model, but most of his files have been removed from the mainframe. Even the data-boards that went into the mainframe. I was only able to find a file with his name on it and the file was titled, Protocol Alpha. In other words, my name. Other then that there's nothing else I could find." Alpha said as a sad tone came out.

"But that still doesn't explain you! You are hundreds of years head of our time, if not a millennium or so. There's no way he could have built you with the technology available at the time." Leadonus said.

"Well looks like we got yet another mystery to solve guys. The case of Alpha's origins." Odd said.

"Looks like our time on this planet just got a little longer." Ulrich added.

"The origin of your new friend Alpha is defiantly an interesting case to take on. But I know that as long as you all work together, there is nothing you all can't do." GW assured them.

"Well while we're on the subject of all of us being together. What's are next step in finding Xana?" Z asked the ethereal being.

GW closed his eyes and thought for a minute before answering. "The battle with Xana draws near, but I'm afraid that it will take more then just to beat him in battle. You all must have your powers grow within you all to defeat Xana for good. And that can only be done by the journey's you will all travel together." GW said to them.

"And what about the amulet? We don't need it anymore now that we found all the warriors." Aelita said to him as she presented it to him.

GW took the amulet and looked at it. The orb didn't show the arrow anymore and was even a dull dark color. In a sense the amulet was dead. "Hmm. I think it is best you all keep the amulet. It may not be needed to find the warriors anymore, but there's far more to it then that. So take care of it and who knows, it may lead you to other things as well." GW said as he gave it back to Aelita.

Aelita took it back and put the chain back around her neck and tuck it into her top. "So if the battle with Xana is coming, what are we suppose to do then?" Knulgen asked, getting impatient of waiting to fight Xana.

"Prepare yourselves, train, help others in need. You all got the whole world to travel and many things to see and do. I wish I could assist you all in your battles, but if we solved everything, then there would simply be no point in this realms existence. Now I must leave. I will come and check in on you all every now and then." GW said.

"Take care of yourself GW, and don't worry. We managed against Xana back on Earth, and now that we are here on this planet with new friends, he's as good as done for." Ulrich said with a smile.

"Remember warriors, Xana is cruel and will do whatever it takes to stop you all and will most defiantly not hesitate to have you all killed one way or another." GW said with a stern tone.

"Nothing we all haven't handled before. Xana just better be ready for us when we find him." Odd said with a cocky tone.

"I know you all have handled many battles in your lives, and your worlds owe you all a great amount of gratitude. Now take care warriors, we will meet again in time." GW finished as he once again glowed bright and in a flash, faded away.

"So now that we don't need to search for anymore warriors, where should we all go next?" Aracane asked.

"I suggest we use the truck outside to get around for starters. I have a communicator that I use to keep in touch with my order, but I can use it to look up news about anything strange. After what happened in the city where you guys found me, I can use that as a lead." Z said to them.

"And from what you all have told me about your world so far. I can link myself to what you call the internet and use a Wi-Fi signal to look for information and anything that could point to Xana. People don't just go to stores and find the weapons and equipment like those men had." Alpha added.

"Wow Alpha, you seem to be learning how to be more interactive with making conversations already." Odd said to him with a smile.

"Well guys, I don't know about you, but I am tired and ready for bed." Eli'ton said as he picked a couch and got on it and lied down.

"Eli is right, we should call it a night and begin anew in the morning." Bel'la added as she picked a couch herself next to her brother.

The rest of the gang also agreed and took their spots through out the rec room and after some time, they all began to fall asleep with Alpha keeping watch since he didn't need to sleep. As the night went on, and the warriors whole, they're adventure was only beginning.

()()()()()()()()()()

It was past midnight as a large black military like plane with propeller blades at the tips of the wings flew above a massive and deep, almost forgotten forest. Inside was a very nervous Ukai and the remaining men as they flew at an incredible speed, deeper into the forest until a massive lone mountain began to come into view. The plane didn't even slow down as they got closer to the mountain. Closer and closer they flew at the middle of the mountain until the plane seemed to phase right into the mountain.

The plane was inside the mountain, but the inside was like a modern base with men and women dressed in similar body armor. Some wore armor that was much more thicker with heavy metal plates and much bigger weapons. The women wore lighter armor but had long blades on their backs and armor designed to climb for more tactical advantages.

But the most significant notice to the place was the one known as Xana had his mark all over the place. On the planes that were in the building as well, on the armor of the troops walking around, on the doors and even walls through out the place.

The planes propellers turned upward and slowly descended to a landing pad and the door to the back of the plane opened and Ukai quickly walked out without even bothering about the remaining men that flew back with him. He walked pass the other troops who didn't even take notice to him as he walked to a special elevator and got on and the elevator and descend down.

After a few minutes the elevator stopped and open to a pitch black room. A light came on in front of him and then a long line of lights started to come on as well until it reached a part in the room and stopped with a much bigger round light at the end. Ukai stood hesitant at first before he began to make his way down the path made of light. Ukai reached the end and got down on one knee with his fist on the ground for support.

After a few minutes Ukai began to hear footsteps until he glanced up and saw Xana's eye seemingly floating around as he slowly paced around. "You failed... You failed again to the same group of foolish teens in only two days. And what's worst, you even loss the very machine that could have strengthened my power of conquest. So explain yourself now Ukai!" Xana yelled and even made the room shake.

"Master please forgive me. I didn't know that the robot was that strong. They're more deadly then I thought. Please Xana, give me another chance to prove myself." Ukai pleaded with his head low.

"I should destroy you. All that strength and you couldn't even take them out and bring Aelita to me. And yet you expect me to give you another chance?" Xana said with disappointment.

"Oh come now Xana, don't you think you're a little hard on the beast? He didn't know that the robot was active and that dangerous." A voice call out to the two.

"I don't recall asking for your opinion. Or even summoning you Smoketay" Xana said as his symbol burned a little brighter.

Not far from Xana and Ukai, the sound of a lighter opening was heard as a little flame was seen as the sound of a cigar burning and a deep drag before the lighter was snapped closed. A light then came on over the person that was smoking.

Like Ukai, the person was defiantly not normal. He stood over six feet tall, his face was metal like but an ash gray color with dark almost black eyes. On his head was a metallic round dome like helmet with a point at the lower back part with two prong like points at the side of his helmet like top in front of his forehead in a almost downward crescent. His body was like a full body armor like look with a number of simple gray colors. His chest and ab parts were a darker gray as well as the lower parts of his arms and legs. The rest were a number of gray colors and some black too.

His hands also looked like it a had armor like look and held the cigar in his right hand. He wore a long elegant whitish coat but didn't have his arms through the sleeves. At the collar, and sleeve ends and even the very bottom part of the coat had a thick brownish fur that made the coat look like it was made of the finest skin and fur. The last features he had was that on his shoulders was tall pipes with three stacks pointing backwards and angled to the sides that made them look like a backwards 'E' but the top parts were long and got shorter as each stack went down.

The one known as Smoketay took another drag and blew out the smoke from his mouth with some coming out of his stacks. "I think Ukai made a very important discovery today with that robot, despite the fact that it and those youngsters defeated him and his men with ease." He said with a almost snide tone as Ukai made a small growl at him.

"And what would that be Smoketay? Because the only thing I discovered was Ukai's inability to take out a bunch of teens." Xana said with his anger rising.

"I believe this will answer your question." Smoketay replied as holographic screen appeared in front of them and a video played. On the video was a recorded entry from earlier that day. It was from the helmet of the person that held Sam hostage and Odd hesitating to fire his arrow at the person. "I can tell that our Earth born enemies are unable to kill. I've even heard a similar event with the one called Yumi was faced with that moral dilemma and almost got killed in the process for hesitating." Smoketay said as the floating screen faded away.

"And why should I even bother showing interest with how weak my original enemies are in being unable to kill?" Xana asked.

"Simple, they can't bring themselves to do it, so I've took the liberty in coming up with a plan to divide our other worldly friends from the more 'experienced' members of their group." Smoketay replied with a smile.

"Go on..." Xana said, his curiosity finally caught.

"I have found five mercenary's that just happen to fight and have similar weapons like Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Sam, and William have. They are cold-blooded, dyed in the wool killers who have been killing and fighting in whatever war or battles they please since they were even younger then your old enemies. We will draw them to a large walled fort that just happens to be over a hundred miles from the place they are now. They took it over some years ago and used it as their base and even recruited a number of assassins." Smoketay explained his plan.

"I see. They do sound like they could be reliable, and more importantly they could get rid of them once and for all." Xana said as his tone changed to a more pleased manner.

"They are some of the best in the world, their skills will be far too much for the fighting members of the Earth group. The plan will be to have them each separated and drawn to the many covered roof decks and have them killed one by one. And don't worry, I'll make sure they don't kill precious little Aelita." Smoketay said in a mocking tone about Aelita.

"Well that sounds like a nice plan Smoketay. But your forgetting one thing. They have a heavily armed battle robot you damn chain-smoking fool!" Ukai said as he got back up and almost shouted at him.

"They're followers have modern weapons as well, and from what I've seen from the video feeds, the robot won't risk hurting it's new friends as long as the assassins keep attacking in large numbers, the robot will have to fight carefully." Smoketay said as he lighted another cigar.

"I will go and assist in taking out the other members while Smoketay's mercenary's battle the Lyoko warriors my lord." Ukai said to Xana.

"No! You will stay here and and watch them finish what you couldn't do. Smoketay will contact them and transfer whatever amount the mercenary's want. By tomorrow this will end and the warriors will fall. I'm glad they have found them all so they can all die together while Aelita watches as what little she has left die at her feet!" Xana said with a manic voice as his symbol burned brighter.

()()()()()()()()()()

DAY 16

The gang awoken to find Alpha still standing guard. They took their time to get ready as Z got the truck started and the gang then loaded up in the covered back with Ulrich in the passenger seat for first shift as Z drove the truck away into the forest on the old forgotten path that was used for the base long ago. Alpha looked out the trucks back window as the base slowly faded away from his optic sensors.

"Is everything all right Alpha?" Aelita asked from her seat.

"I am fine, it's just that I have... mixed feeling, I guess the word would be. I have been in that base for a long time yet I don't have any memory's of that place I was built in." Alpha said as turned and sat back down.

"I felt the same way about Lyoko when I left it. Even though I was in danger from the monsters in Lyoko, it was still home to me for a long time." Aelita replied as she thought of Lyoko.

"Aelita's right Alpha. We've got a long journey together, so you will have plenty of time to make new and great memory's together, and even one day find you a new home you can call your own." Jeremie added.

"Look at it this way Al, now you can make new memory's with us, and since your a robot we can even make video's from your memory." Odd said which made Alpha tilt his head.

"Well where ever we're heading, we will handle it together." Jack said to them.

"Hey guys, these woods go deeper then I thought, so we are going to be in here for awhile. So just settle in and take it easy." Z said as to the others in the back.

"Just to let you know, I call shotgun when Ulrich is done sitting up there." Miodelus said.

The gang laughed from Mio's joke as Z continued to drive down the forgotten dirt road while still unaware the trap they will be driving into and more importantly, a life long choice that Ulrich, Yumi, Sam, Odd, and William will soon make in their long journey and battles ahead.

**END CHAPTER.**


	22. THE FORGOTTEN FORTRESS

**CHAPTER 22: THE FORGOTTEN FORTRESS**

Back on Earth. The heat on Kadic Academy has finally died down after a week since the gang was sent to Earthera. Thanks to the agent simply known as 'L' and his organization helped show the world that the other students and it's teachers had nothing to do with the Lyoko warriors and their new friends and all the crazy events, thus keeping both the Academy opened, and the students from being pulled out.

The world went on with it's business, which is just what a lot of people want. In a lot of places of the world, people could see the large group of warriors between the channels of they're television and other forms of video feed, but the signals come in and out through out the world except for major government bases across the world in the more friendlier parts which seemed to have a continuous feed.

All kinds of people around the world have reacted in all kinds of ways. For starters, people who believed there really is life beyond Earth were having a field day with those that didn't believe so. A number of scientists and environmentalists were called in to study what they could see from the video feeds to see how much their world is similar to Earthera. Some people obviously began a online fan club with almost a billion fans worldwide on the whole gang. And of course there were people who simply didn't believe any of it was real and that is was all a big hoax. **(A/N: Just to let you readers know, the people of Earth and their friends aren't being watched because... that would just not make any sense)**

At Kadic Academy in the dining room around breakfast time. "Aracane is so amazing, he saved the guys even though he didn't know who they were. And he's in such perfect shape, his chest is solid and broad, his abs seem like they were sculptured by an artist, and his arms are so strong and safe to be in." A familiar girl at a table said as she swoon over Aracane.

"And he's probably hung like a horse too." Another girl added which made some of them blush.

"Yeah Aracane is cool, but Z is so strong and silent. His long black coat and sunglasses show that he is not to be messed with." Another familiar girl with a skirt said.

"Well what about Eli'ton. His full body armor is truly beautiful, and his messy dark blue hair, I just love the color so much. Oh Eli'ton, if you showed me where your people lived, I would never betray you or their location." Another girl said as she held her hands together as if he would hear her.

"I think the Surfane brothers are amazing. Their species can swim and breathe underwater, and their dreads are kinda kinky to me. The oldest brother Leadonus is such an amazing captain, I can see us sailing the world together on a magnificent ship." A girl with pigtails said.

"Lea's cool, but Deotalus is so smart and just loves to build and discover new and amazing things. And his trident is like a weapon of a god. He would take me by the hand and we would swim to the bottom of the ocean and explore many things. Of course I would have to wear scuba gear." A girl with black hair giggled.

"Well Ralfaius may be a hot-head, but I could tell that they way he cares and loves his pet turtle, that he is a gentle person deep down, and just needs a loving person to bring that out of him." A girl with red hair said.

"You girls are crazy. Miodelus is the best of the four. You can tell a lot about a guy who loves his big sister, and I hope one day they find her. Sure he may be a little simple, but I can tell he would never cheat on you and can always make you laugh. And his dreads are like a Rastafarian hipster." Another girl with a scarf said.

"Sure the brothers may be awesome, but Knulgen is the best. He's wild and untamed, he loves to fight no matter the Odds, and his red hair dreadlocks look like fire when he's fighting. I just like a guy who is rough around the edges." The girl known as Priscilla smiled.

"Knulgen wouldn't help Aelita unless she promised to buy him a hundred dumpling, she almost lost her fingers to that man, and he also doesn't know when to stop fighting. The best guy I think is Jack. He's so well mannered and noble and would do anything for the people of his Kingdom and I can tell he is great with kids. If only I was born a princess. He would come riding in a field of flowers on a white horse and take me to his castle and take me as his Queen." A girl with long black hair said as she closed her eyes and fantasized about it.

"Who do you think is the best Emily? Personally I think Odd is much cooler now that he's a... what were they called?... Oh yeah, a Cataranion now. I can see him slowly stalking me in a deep forest, his eyes shining in the dark as he makes low growls." The girl Known as Heidi said. (She used to date Odd)

"Well... William seems pretty amazing, he's got a very large sword and could seem to handle any fight." Emily quickly replied since she was startled by her friends question.

"Well Ulrich is easily the strongest, when he's fighting, he's thinking of me to guide him through his battles." Sissi lied to the girls at the table.

"Uh Sissi, I don't know if you managed to watch much, but they all talk smack about you when they talking about their life here on Earth. Mostly Ulrich, and if he was thinking of you when their fighting, he would have been killed a long time ago." Another familiar girl said which made everyone at the table and some of the others laugh like crazy. Sissi growled and stormed away from the table and passing her cronies.

"Well I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna try to sneak to the student room later and see if I can find them again. The teachers are really trying to keep an eye out on the TV to prevent us from watching so we don't have our studies interrupted." Another girl said at the table.

"Hey Sissi, just to let you know I'm always thinking of you to guide me." Herb said to her as she passed their table.

"Guide you through what?! For your zits to finally fad away?" Sissi snapped at him before walking off. Herb grumbled as the guys he was sitting with were talking.

"I think Kairaree is the coolest. Her skin his such a beautiful tan color with her light green tail and long fin like ears and messy light green hair. She's so cute and innocent looking but she is deadly with her daggers and chain weapon. And if those thieves try to take her dagger again, I hope she teaches them a lesson." A boy with glasses said.

"If any of the girls in their group is awesome, it's Bel'la. Her staff-blade is like a Japanese naginata, and her priestess like armor looks like it's straight out of an anime." Another boy with short black hair said.

"That new girl Sam is pretty tough too. I just love the red streaks in her hair, and both pairs of her tonfas are pretty awesome." A boy with glasses and orange like hair said.

"Just make sure you don't say that when her dad is around. I actually caught a glimpse of him and he is huge. Not the kind of dad you would want to mess with when your talking about his daughter." The African boy with the headphones said.

"I also heard he cracked principle Delmas's desk in anger when they came to bring her stuff the day she disappeared." Another boy added.

"Well I think Yumi is the coolest, she looks so pretty in the modern kimono style clothes of her." Johnny said, still having a crush on her.

"I never thought Aelita had such a history, that madman or whatever kind of guy Xana is really hates her. I just hope they can all stop him." Theo added.

"I just hope they all come back soon. It's just no fun without Yumi around for me to bother." Hiroki said, hiding the fact that he missed his sister so much.

"If anybody is the coolest in the group, it is most defiantly Alpha or as Odd calls him, Al" Another boy said which made the others laugh. **(A/N: Just to let you all know the students on what they look like is up to you because not all of them had names, so just try your best to remember from the show)**

()()()()()()()()()

Outside the school and at the gates and many other parts of the school stood police officers and even some military like guys and even some agents dressed the same way as Agent L stood outside the schools perimeter to keep back reporters and just the plain weirdos. Every now and then they would allow only selected reporters in so they won't try to blow the whole thing out of proportion. Near the entrance of a building, Milly and Tamiya were being interviewed by two woman who are reporters.

The one with the mic had tanned skin and short black hair with a red top and black pants. The other reporter had a camera and her skin was lighter, and she had long blonde hair with some pins and wore a green jacket with gray pants. The two reporters were interviewing them to find whatever help full information on the group.

"And that's really all we know about them. They aren't the kind of student's to cause trouble or hurt anyone." Milly said.

"Yeah they seemed strange and always disappear suddenly, but they really are nice guys." Tamiya added.

"Well we know that the one girl Samantha Knight was only just in the school for a few hours before being sent away." The reporter with the mic said.

"I think she knew Odd, we had a skating contest a few months ago and we saw her there, talking to Odd before they disappeared again." Milly replied.

"Then I guess there's nothing more we can find out about them. We should try talking to the other students." The reporter with the camera said as she turned it off.

"Sorry we couldn't give you anymore information. But just to let you know, we are the schools news team too, and we hope to one day be international reporters as well." Milly said.

"That's neat girls, keep at it and maybe one day we will meet you in the field too." The reporter with the mic said as she patted Milly on the shoulder and the reporters walked away.

()()()()()()()()

In Delmas's office, the principle sat in his chair thinking deeply of the things that have happened in over two weeks which have also been the worst days in his life. Never would he have thought that a few of his students would be involved in so much trouble, but then again was amazed that they took on so much responsibility and wanted nothing in return for their struggles against Xana. But he also knew that they were no longer in the digital world called Lyoko and instead the real world, even though they were on another planet, but still in a real world all the same, which means their lives were in mortal danger and feared that they would be killed.

The sound of his door knocking caught his attention. "Come in." He called out and Jim walked in.

"Hello there sir, I just wanted to make sure that you were ready for your meeting with the international boards of education." Jim said to him.

"Again?! I've already told them everything I know, and I told them I don't remember anything when that Xana monster attacked the school." Delmas said as he got up from his seat. "It's bad enough that I've gotten angry calls from the parents and all kinds of people demanding to have this school shutdown and even that stranger trying to break in a few nights ago for god knows what kind of reason." Delmas said as he looked out the window to see some agents at a nearby gate.

"Well I suppose the worst for this school is behind us for now." Jim said as he walked over to where the principle stood. "It's kinda funny. I've worked at this school for years and heard every excuse in the book and then some, but I never would have thought that those kids actually had a reasonable excuse for their grades, absences, disappearances, and strange behavior all the time." Jim finished.

"Definitely once in a lifetime event for all of us. This is one for the history books and people will remember this for the rest of their lives." Delmas replied.

"History indeed. You know, there was this one time I broke a record a long time ago and has still yet to be broken in the world records books." Jim said with a smile.

"You broke a world record Jim? What was the record for?" Delmas asked curiously.

"I'd rather not talk about it. Now lets get going, the meeting in the teachers lounge." Jim said his usual response when he talks about his past and for some reason never talks about it.

()()()()()()()()()

Not far from the school, a large private building with several stories and many rooms and flats. Several vans were outside the building entrance where a dozen or so agents stood.

Inside the building. "There's plenty of rooms and bathrooms for you all. Now this doesn't have to be permanent, but for now I suggest you all stay here until further notice. We will continue to keep watch over your houses until we think it's safe." Agent L said as the parents of the Lyoko gang came in with boxes of only the necessity in a large living room like area with a very large opened kitchen and wooden floor with a big view into the city, and a massive flat screen in one part of the room with surround-sound.

"I still can't believe we have to leave our homes. Who would even try to harm us?" Mr. Stern asked gruffly as he put down three boxes.

"We could only take what we needed, but I still hated to leave all our friends back home." Mrs. Stern added as she put a few boxes down next to her husbands.

"At least we can both still work from here to our offices." Mr. Ishiyama said. As he put some boxes down in a corner.

"And all I need is my laptop since my job is an editor. And dear, let's make sure we don't forget some of Hiroki's stuff too." Mrs. Ishiyama added.

"We're the ones who are farther from our home and our careers." Mr. Dunbar said carrying a few boxes as well.

"I'm still in shock that our son was possessed by that monster Xana. And that they replaced him with a digital clone or whatever thing they had to use." Mrs. Dunbar added.

"Well my job is a military trainer since I retired from the army. But now I need to think of something to do before I go stir-crazy in here." Mr. Knight said as he brought in five boxes.

"It will be fine dear. We can find something to do together to make the best of it." Mrs. Knight said as she placed a hand on his large shoulder.

"Personally I think it's kinda funny. All us parents living together under one roof like the set up of a bad sitcom." Mr. Della-Robbia said with a smile.

"Honey, you know all sitcoms are bad, it's just the way it is. But I know that our little Odd will be fine as long as he's got his friends to-" Mrs. Della-Robbia tried to finish but a girl pushed her way in by almost tripping from the boxes she was carrying.

"Well I think it's all Odd's fault we're in this situation." A girl by the name of Adele said as she walked in. You could tell that she was related to Odd by the way she looked and was of 19 years old. "I was going to be starting collage in Florence this year, but no, I have to hide out here, and it's not even Paris, France!" she said as she put her boxes down.

"We should have just kept him in the bathroom last time." A girl by the name Pauline said. Her clothes were about as strange as odds and she carried a box full of video games and a console or two, and she was just around 18 years old.

"Yeah, and now he's on another planet with all kinds of crazy people trying to kill them." Another girl by the name of Marie said and was 17 and a little shy looking since her top had a hoodie and covered her head.

"I wonder how long until he croaks?" Another girl named Elizabeth said who was also 17. She was Marie's fraternal twin and didn't look alike and was a lot more outgoing.

"I just hope Odd will be okay. He may be different now, but he's still our brother." The last girl Louise said as she came in with a duffel bag. She was the more nicer sister and was only just 16. She was more then a year older then Odd who was still around 14. **(A/N: You readers will have to watch the episode when Odd's parents came to visit and use your imagination on what his sisters could look and act like)**

"Girls! I will not have you all bad mouth your brother. I'm still mad at that little stunt of yours. Now go find a room." They're usually carefree father said in a stern voice which made the girls wince and leave to find a room.

"I'm going to have a very long talk with those girls later. The way they treat Odd needs to end." Mrs. Della-Robbia added, not really paying attention to the other parents who couldn't help but watch.

"Ummm, now that that's passed, I would like to introduce a partner of mine from the British branch of our Organization. His name is Adam, but his agent title is 'A' and will help around here as well." Agent L said as another man came in, he was around the same height and was of well build.

"Hello there everyone, a pleasure to meet you. I will be assisting in helping you all settle in and keep watch over all of you as well." Agent A said to the parents.

"A pleasure to meet you Agent A. I'm sure you know who we all are. So where you from in England." Mr. Della-Robbia asked while shaking the man with sunglasses and suit like all the other agents.

"I come from a small town that was a major harbor channel. It's not much but it's nice to go there when I'm on leave." Agent A replied with his light British accent.

"Well before we settle in more, we should see if we can find a channel that is broadcasting our children." Mr. Ishiyama said, pointing to the TV.

"I still wonder how we are even able to see them or better yet, who is even showing our children, and for what reason we are able to watch them?" Mrs. Stern asked.

"Well it can't be that Xana. If he was able to see them, then he would just have wave after wave of enemy's go after them until they were finished. It's just simple military tactic." Mr. Knight said to the parents.

"It might be that Guardian Warrior that's guiding them, or at least a being like him. He did say there's a whole realm of them." Mr. stern pointed out.

"Well whatever or whoever the reason that is causing us to see them, at least we know where they are and not wondering if they're all right. I'll try to find them." Mr. Della-Robbia said as he picked up the remote and turned on the TV and began to flip through channels. "Ah! Here they are." He said pointing to the TV

"Suck my red dick Yumi!" Knulgen said over the TV.

"I don't have any ill will towards their new friends, but that Knulgen boy is a horrible person." Mr. Ishiyama said with anger.

"He does seem to have a bunch of problems. But if you ask me, I think the reason he's difficult to deal with is because like he said, he's looking for someone. In other words, he's looking for revenge." Agent L said as he adjusted his shades.

"Ah revenge, simple but ever lasting motivation." Agent A said as they continued to watch with the others as the image on the screen changed to a different location.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back on Earthera and far from the gangs current location stood a small abandoned town like place just within the forest that had hints of a western town feel to it because the town was split down the middle with a large and very long dusty road. The many buildings were lined up in the old and dusty town which had a number of shops, from bars to empty weapon stores, places to find food, but no such thing was on the shelves, and some homes behind the stores, and just every kind of store and shop you would expect to find even though the town was abandoned.

At the end of the old dusty road was a massive fortress. The agonizingly tall and white stone stairs that was wide enough for thirty people to walk up side by side. The fortress was very similar to a Japanese castle but only just slightly. It was faded and old, but still had it's colors of red, marble, green, and black with a massive and very thick stone wall with a massive wood and metal door in front of it that took a motorized pulling and closing system or very strong people to pull the rings on the door. Beyond the door was a massive courtyard with ponds and flowing rivers with fishes in it, and trees with reddish-yellow leaves falling off and a few bridges over the ponds.

The courtyard lead to the main part of the fortress which could easily hold a few thousand people. The fortress had many, many rooms of all kinds. It's own power source and running water thanks to the stream behind the fortress. The place had many levels and wide decks and covered guard towers which were very wide and opened. Past the main doors into the fortress was a long room filled with many beautiful decorations, from armor and weapons of all kinds behind glass, and vases, paintings and even some other things you would expect to find in a lavish place.

Past the main sliding doors and regular doors until a room was seen which almost resembled a throne room. The room was not massive, but it wasn't small either. The room was painted black with two rows of pedestals lining the room near the center as a sort of path. The only light source was the many candles that filled the room on long tables built to have that many candles burning on them, and even tall candle staffs here and there.

At the end of the room was a throne like seat with a long red flag like cloth which was connected to the top of the roof and went all the way down and over the throne where a human man sat in. He looked pass his thirty's. His skin was a little pale with heavy dark circles under his eyes, his hair was buzz-cut short but the middle was like a Mohawk, but pulled back and had a long band which made the end of the ponytail frizzy, and a massive scar over his right eye.

The top part of his clothes almost had a kimono samurai look to it with long sleeves and grayish-white color to the whole top and massive metal shoulder pads with some metal protection around the neck and upper part of his chest, but still left most of his upper body unprotected. His pants were the same simple color with thick leg and knee pads and black boots that had spikes at the ends. Around his waist was a long tattered clothing that also made it look like a kimono, but with more splits and had metal studs all over it.

He sat slouched in his throne with a cordless phone in his hand. Next to his armrest was a tray on wheels with a laptop and charger that was all connected to the computer systems installed through out the whole fortress.

He held a phone in his hand and had his secret account open on the laptop and waiting for a e-mail. "I was wondering when you would call back. So what are you offering again?" The man asked on the phone.

"Straight to business, I like that. Anyway we are offering one million for each of them for starters, Gabriel of the Blades." The one known as Smoketay said over the phone as he took another drag from his cigar.

"For starters? You sound like you have more to offer. Is there some of them that me and my best fighters need to handle in a certain way?" Gabriel asked with his right scarred eyebrow raised.

"There is a human girl amongst them. She has pink hair, so you can't kill her by mistake if you tried. My master want's her alive and absolutely unharmed in anyway. For her, we are offering 13 million for her alive." Smoketay replied with a very serious tone at the end.

"Fine, fine, whatever, as long as you pay." Gabriel replied as he slouched down more.

"There is one more thing. There is a machine that is with them, a robot if you would. The machine holds some significant investment that my master needs. So you may use stronger weapons on it, but no permanent damage or complete destruction, it needs to be very well intact, especially the head and body and arms. I hope the robot wont be too much for you all or too scary." Smoketay said in a almost challenging tone.

"Me and my elites fear no person, beast, or machine. What are you offering for the robot?" Gabriel asked.

"30 million for the robot. So that's 1 million for each which adds up to 17 million for the fodder of the group. 13 million for the little pink head. And 30 million for the clunker. So all in all, a cool 60 mil. In other words, easy money. You know, you don't sound at all bothered in being hired to kill a bunch of teens." Smoketay said as he finished discussing the pay and was a little curious about the man.

"I've been killing since I was ten. I was born in a war-torn land, which in my opinion was hell on Earthera. I was on the streets with no parents, I killed for the first time when someone tried to kill me for what little money I managed to beg for. I killed him with his own rusty knife and ever since then began my long life of killing. I see the world for what it is. Full of shit and lies, killing is the only thing that is true in the world. So in a way, I like to think I would be doing them a favor, to save them from this world. But whether they live or die is of no concern of mine." Gabriel replied as he got up from his throne.

"Well see to it that they die except for the pink hair girl. I will send over the pictures of the group and remember, the ones with their names in red need you and your four other elites special touch. The rest can be dealt by your warriors and assassins. We will make sure they head your way, just be ready for them and you will be paid handsomely when we come to get the pink haired girl with the money in cash." Smoketay said as he hung up.

Gabriel looked at the laptop as the pictures of his targets were e-mailed. One by one he looked them over as he noticed the ones named Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Sam, and Williams names were in red, knowing that he and his elites need to deal with them personally as he closed the laptop. He then picked up a katana like sword and a large broadsword that were at the other side of his armrest. He strapped the broadsword to his back and the katana like blade at his left hip before walking out of the rooms as he took the laptop.

Outside his throne chamber and into the halls of the fortress was filled with all kinds of hired fighters, wielding a wide variety of weapons from ancient weapons to modern firearms, and all kinds of clothing style from ancient warrior armor and assassin like clothes and military uniforms and at various ages, from teens to young adults and even a few old people. These people have come from all walks of life, broken and scarred in all kinds of ways from prisoners of war, to desecrated and exiled warriors, and people just running from they're pasts.

Gabriel walked down the halls as his followers either stopped and let him pass or just gave a small bow as he reached the first room of one of his elites. He banged on the door. "Ella! Are you awake in there? We got work! Get up." Gabriel almost yelled as he banged on the door again.

"It's open, you insomniac bastard." A woman's voice called out. Gabriel opened the door to the dark and large lavish room. He saw the bed and saw the woman known as Ella in her bed with a teenage human girl with red hair and a teenage Lizardin boy with dark orange hair with Ella in between them. Gab could tell that they were naked under the covers as he cringed in disgust as Ella raised herself a little from the bed with the sheet barely covering her. "What is it? I'm hoping to have another round with my new play-toys." She gestured to the young confused sleeping teens.

"Get dressed and ready, we have some targets to take out." Gabriel said as he closed the door without even allowing her to respond while she got dressed.

He leaned against the wall while waiting for her until she finally came out. The woman Ella had black hair pulled back into a ponytail with two long braids in the front. Her eyes were green and her skin was milky. Her clothes were of a zip-up style top that was red with a few black streaks through out the corset like top that went all the way up to her neck with black gloves that covered her whole arms with all but the middle fingers of her gloves cut off.

Her boots were also black with laces that went all the way up to her thighs with metal blade like tips for the heels with simple red pants with a golden chain around her petite hips and a long red coat that seemed like cross between an open kimono and bathrobe with all kinds of elegant designs on the back part of it.

Her weapons were fans just like Yumi's that were strapped around her waist with two at the sides of her legs a short blade strapped to the back of her waist. "So what's the job? Some targets that need to be assassinated?" Ella asked in almost seductive tone.

"I'll explain while we're gathering the rest." Gabriel replied as they both began to walk. "So... some more notches on your belt? A few more confused teens that are almost half your age? When will it be enough to slake your lust?" Gab asked her.

"What can I say? I like them young and sexually confused and vulnerable. In a way it makes me in touch with my younger self long ago." Ella replied as she ran her hands down from her pressed breasts to her pants in a lustful tone.

"Well I suppose when you go through all kinds of sexual torture at a young age, people simply respond in different manners." Gabriel said in a mock tone. In a sudden flash her blade was against his throat as they both stopped in the middle of the hall. He glanced over to her with a smile as he saw her face contorted in a angry manner as it was obvious that Gabriel hit a very sensitive issue from her past long ago which to put simply, was things that should never happen to a little girl. "So you can be serious after all." Gabriel said as he moved the blade from his throat and they continued to walk down the hall.

They reached another room which was actually the forge. Gabriel opened the door as he noticed a bunch of kilns with a fire going, and anvils with forges and noticed a man in the corner with a grindstone. The person is a Arachun man with dark brown hair pulled back in dreadlocks with metal clamps and dark yellow eyes. His clothes was that of a gray thick padded vest with no sleeves. His arms and hands had heavy metal gauntlets that went up to his elbows. His pants were black and had the same metal boots like the gauntlets.

He sat at a spinning grindstone with a strange blade. The blade was similar in size like Williams but a little longer and curved with two opening in the middle back part to grab with two hands. But the most unique part was that the blade had two long handles at both ends of the sword. Although it lacked the ability to stab, having two handles gave it a interesting edge when swinging.

"Morning there Ulsar. Shaping your blade again?" Gabriel asked. The Arachun man stopped sharpening and picked the blade up and put it in it's unique sheath on his back.

"When a blade is sharp, death is quick for my enemies. I understand we have some targets." Ulsar said to his 'leader'.

"Yes, now come along, we need the others before I explain the plan." Gabriel replied as the big blade warrior walked with them. They continued down the halls until they came to another room. Inside the room was filled with all kinds of training equipment. The three walked in and heard the sound of punching and saw a Cataranion attacking a large post that looked like a punching bag bolted to the ground.

The Cataranion had wild red hair with yellow streaks, his skin was a little tan with dark red stripes on his face and down his back and on his arms and legs, and his tail was a metal prosthetic with an arrow tip. He wore a very dark red coat with a black vest and red camouflage pants and black boots with five little claws at the tips of the boots.

He stopped punching and picked up his weapons. The weapons were like gauntlets with three clawed blades with the center blades going down the gauntlets, making a long blade near the elbows. He jumped and pounced on the bag and cut through it with ease as the pieces fell to the ground.

"Perfect form as always Fer-al." Gab said to the Cataranion. He got up and gave a small nod. "Well let's go get the last one. Let's just hope she's sober enough to fight." Gabriel said as Fer-al took off the gauntlets and put them in a sheath on his back.

The four walked the halls until they found the dining room with they're followers going about their business with whatever foods left. They walked over to a table with various glass bottles all over it, ranging from all kinds of sizes from simple beer bottles, to wine, and champagne bottles, all empty and even a few broken.

"Panlu! Wake up you lousy drunk! We got some targets coming our way." Gabriel yelled at the woman with her face down on the table. The Molknuc woman slowly stirred awake while fighting a hangover. Her skin was a darker red with black eyes and sandy hair which was cut short.

She wore a light vest which was a dark green color with long shoulder pads with long sleeves and fingerless gloves. Her pants were a black color with knee high brown boots. Around her waist was six long leather flaps with studs all around her waist that went down to her knees, making it look almost like a skirt.

Her weapons were long blades. The handles were like braces that attached near her elbows with hinges for the blades to swivel with handles in the middle like tonfas, but only able to flip the blades in a forward and back position. Her other weapon was more like a tonfa, but the bar part was twice the size and made entirely out of metal and shaped like a long hexagon.

"What do you want? I got a hangover. And Ella you smell like sex, bang some more young girls and boys?" Panlu asked which made Ella pull out one of her fans and tried to throw it at Panlu, but Gabriel stopped her.

"Enough, we have 19 targets to take out, let me show you all." Gab said as he put the laptop on the table and opened it and began to show them the pictures. "For starters we are being paid 1 million for each teen, which adds up to 17 million. However there is a human girl with pink hair that under no circumstances, must not be killed, the employer wants her alive and unharmed in anyway. We will be paid 13 million for her. Finally they apparently have some kind of robot with them. We can take it down but not completely destroy it. We will be paid 30 million, so we'll let our followers deal with it. So all in all, 60 million when the job is done." Gabriel said to them.

"A robot? Are we really about to enter the age of machines fighting our battles?" Ulsar asked.

"I could care less. Now there are five targets that need to be dealt with by us personally. Ulsar, you will fight the one named William. He has a large sword like yours but your duel handles will give you a edge against him." Gabriel said to him as he showed the picture.

"It's been a long time since I fought someone with a large blade. I look forward to it." Ulsar calmly said.

"Ella, they have a girl named Yumi. She fights with fan-blades like you, but I doubt she is prepared for your sensual fighting style." Gabriel said to her, talking about her idea of fighting.

"Another fan-blade fighter. That's too bad I need to kill her, I would like to taste her and have fun with her body." Ella said in a husky tone as she pulled out one of her fan-blades and licked the blade.

"Anyway... Fer-al, they have a Cataranion with them named Odd which would be perfect for you since he has claw gauntlets like you, but without the long blade on the back part of your gauntlets." Gabriel said as Fer-al simply nodded in agreement.

"And finally Panlu, there is a girl who fights with tonfas. So your fighting style is a lot like her's but your metal hammer tonfa will definitely give you an edge." Gabriel finally finished.

"My blades will cut through her while my hammer tonfa will smash her head into the ground." Panlu said as she took a drink from a bottle.

"So here's the plan. Our employer will somehow lead them to this area. Our followers will lead them to this fortress after they get their attention and then we will slowly separate the special targets and lead them to the large guard roofs in one on one combat. I will deal with the one named Ulrich since he has dual swords like me." Gabriel said as he went over the plan.

"I suppose the pink haired girl isn't much of a fighter. We'll collect her later." Fer-al finally spoke in a quiet tone.

"She is not a fighter, although I can't help but wonder what's so special about her." Gabriel said as he rubbed his chin. "Well no matter, we're getting paid to kill, not ask questions. Now as for the rest, our followers will kill them and use the more heavier weapons on the robot. This is easy money which will tide us over for a long period of time, so we must not fail. Now get the others ready for battle, they could be here anytime now, so move." Gabriel ordered as the other four walked away and went on to their business, ready for the coming storm.

()()()()()()()()()

Back on the dusty road in the deep forest. The gang continued to ride in the military truck with Z driving and Ulrich sitting next to him. The door to the back bed was open where all the others were sitting in the many chairs with Yumi looking at Knulgen very angrily from his comment an hour ago.

"What's wrong Yumi? You've been looking at me like that for over an hour." Knulgen said to her from the seat he was leaning in with his hands behind his head.

"I asked you if you have anything to eat in your backpack, and you responded by telling me to suck your red dick. Can't you see why I'm angry?!" Yumi almost yelled at him.

"It's only passed 8:00 and Knulgen pulls a dick move. Literally this time." Sam said as she glared at him too.

"I say we just throw him out and make him walk the rest of the way." Ulrich said from his chair, still looking at him with anger.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied.

"So do we have any idea where we are going? I mean I know we need to find our own path but it kinda helps to have a bearing." Eli'ton asked no one in particular.

"I'm just trying to find a way back to the main highways. Who knows when someone last rode on this dirt road, and this thick forest doesn't help much either." Z said as he looked around out the window.

"Good thing this truck is roomy and rides pretty easy. I'm gonna try to get a little more sleep." Odd yawned as he made himself more comfortable and closed his eyes.

"I need a better access to a computer that is online and I could load maps from the satellites and get a better readout of the lands." Alpha said to them.

"Hey Alpha, I've been wondering. Do you have the three laws of robotics in you? Or have you at least heard of them?" Jeremie asked curiously.

"You know I've been meaning to ask that as well." Deotalus added.

"I know the laws. First law: A robot shall not harm a person of any species or allow a person of any species to come to harm. Second Law: A robot must obey any orders given to it, as long as it doesn't conflict with the first law. Third law: A robot must protect it's own existence as long as it doesn't conflict with the first and second law." Alpha said to the two geniuses.

"So your planet has the same idea for the three laws too, that's amazing. The only differences is that instead of the word human, your laws have a 'person of any species' since there are more then one sentient beings on this planet." Jeremie said to Deo.

"However, since I am a robot built for battle, these laws are simply in my memory as a guide. I can choose to obey them however I see fit. In other words if I calculate that someone may be harmful to us or others, I will deal with them based on the nature of the harm they are doing or going to do." Alpha continued.

"But you wont kill or harm anyone just because, right Alpha? I hope you know how to show mercy too." Aelita asked Alpha.

Alpha looked over to her. "Don't worry Aelita, I may be able to fight, but I will only do it if it means to protect you all." Alpha replied. Aelita put her hand on his large metal hand. He looked at her curiously not knowing what the gesture meant, but continued to let her do it as they continued to ride.

"Hey guys, look at this." William said as the truck stopped while William looked out the side window and Z looked out the driver window to see a sign standing at the side of the road. The sign simply said 'Town Ahead' and was only about 50 miles away.

"Good eye William. This truck still has full power, and if I keep it at a steady speed, we will make it in another hour or so." Z said as he started the truck back up.

"What do you mean by full power? Is this truck electric?" Ulrich asked.

"It's a energy battery cell, much more efficient then a regular battery and in another decade or so, over 70% percent of the vehicles on this planet will have this new kind of engine and even algae fuel and solar panels will also be far more used then they are now." Z replied as he continued to drive.

()()()()()()()()

When the truck was finally out of site, the sign that stood there began to fade and wane until it burst into a flash of digital energy, gone from site. The scene then panned out to a large floating screen that was in a pitch black room with the only lights over Ukai and Smoketay. They were sitting in two large metal chairs side by side with terminals in front of them both and the image that they were watching still playing.

"See Ukai, my plans in motion, the Lyoko warriors and their new friends will be dealt with, Xana will have Aelita, and those mercenary's will be 60 million dollars richer. It's what the kids call a win-win." Smoketay said a little smugly as he took out another cigar from the inside of his coat and lit it with his lighter.

"For your sake they better defeat them. Xana is putting in a lot of money for them and I know for a fact that those mercenary's you hired are unbalanced in they're own way." Ukai said with his arms crossed in anger at the smoking being.

"They are insane in some form or another, and it is that kind of crazy that my most hated enemy's must die in the most horrible way. They have been fighting in the digital world for too long. It is time they fight in the real world. It is time they see the universe for what it really is as they die at the hands of mad people and their small army of broken and lost people who have also faced the world and it's true nature. And the best part about it is that when Aelita sees her friends die in front of her, it will only be the beginning of her demise." Xana said as his symbol light up from behind the two as he began to chuckle and laugh wildly while they continued to watch and wait for the gang to arrive at the location.

()()()()()()()()()

An hour passed as the gang finally saw a clearing ahead of them. "Get ready guys, I think I can see the town up ahead." Z said to them as the gang began to get themselves out of they're seats and got ready to stretch their legs. Finally the town came into view as Z pulled the truck to the side of the front entrance and stopped.

Z and Ulrich got out of the driver and passenger door while the gang walked out of the lowering ramp that was on the back of the military truck and they all took a nice stretch before having a look at the town in front of them. They walked down the dusty road with the building on the sides of the road. And as promised, Alpha wore his disguise.

"Is it me, or does anybody else know that this town seems abandoned?" William asked the group after they got halfway down the road.

"I think this town looks like a western setting in Earth's cowboy movies." Odd said as he looked around. "Stick them up partner!" Odd said pointing his fingers at William in a mock cowboy accent.

"Be serious Odd. I have a feeling we are being watched." Z said to the group, not knowing how right he was.

()()()()()()()()()

Gabriel stood at the top of the fortress as he removed his binoculars from his heavy bagged eyes. Next to him was his four elites ready for the battle ahead. He turned to a man which was a Lizardin but covered from head to toe in a black outfit which would be called a ninja suit if they were on Earth. He wore heavy pads on his shoulders with a katana like blade strapped to his back. "Their here at last. Go now, attack them and draw our targets into the fortress, and remember above all else. The pink haired girl must not be killed." Gabriel said to the black clad assassin as he bowed and ran off the roof and slide down to the courtyard where other people dressed like him were waiting as they left the courtyard.

"Oh how I can't wait for the one called Yumi to get here. I'm going to try and knock her out and then get her in my bed before I kill her." Ella said in a lustful tone as she opened and closed one of her fan-blade.

"You can have your fill of underage teens later. Stay focused at the task at hand." Panlu said as she finished a small wine bottle and then threw it off the roof and heard a little shatter.

"The traps have been set to separate them, and the other warriors are ready to attack as well and have been informed on the group coming our way." Ulsar said.

"Good, and I assume your ready Fer-al?" Gabriel asked the silent Cataranion man who simply nodded. "Then prepare my elites. Today we will be far more rich then we ever have been in a long time." Gabriel said as they left to get ready for their parts.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang continued to walk the road as they saw the fortress finally come into better view. "Wow, what's a fortress that size doing all the way out here?" Bel'la asked.

"This region must have had a lot of battles and that fortress must have been built as a solider resupply and training grounds long ago. And then from the looks of it, this town was built some century's later and must have been abandoned some decades ago." Z said as he looked around the town. His highly tuned sense of danger was going crazy as he had one of his hands near the handle of his father's gun and looking around very closely through his sunglasses.

When the gang was about three fourths of the way to the fortress, Alpha suddenly stopped and the others noticed this as well. "I am detecting multiple movements all over the place." Alpha said as he got his Gatling-laser guns ready to open.

"Well looks like were back in the fight guys." Knulgen said as he drew his sword.

"Where are they? I don't see anyone." Leadonus said as he unfolded his scythe.

"They are on the roofs all around us. Be prepared for whatever they might have in store." Alpha said as he took off his metal mask and rope disguise and then his chest plates opened.

"Looks like I'm going back inside again." Jeremie said as Alpha's cables came out.

"Affirmative." Was all Alpha said before his cables wrapped around Jeremie's body and lifted him and Jeremie's body light up before disappearing into Alpha as he then retracted the cables and his chest plates closed, ready for battle.

"I see some, they're dressed like assassins." Kairaree said as the black clad assassins showed themselves from the top of the roofs and some jumped down to their level. There was over forty of them and had various weapons from swords to throwing stars.

"It's like one of my favorite themes. Ninjas and cowboys." Odd said as the assassins began to walk closer. "But I guess we're the cowboys here." Odd looked around as he flicked his wrist for his claw blades to come out.

"Four assassins jumped from the roofs of the old wooden building at the group and threw smoke-bombs that hit the ground and explode, forcing the gang to run out of the thick black smoke except for Alpha.

"Oh no! Alpha's still in the smoke, we got to get him out!" Miodelus shouted, which made Ralfaius slap him upside the head.

"He's a robot. Jellyfish for brains. He doesn't need to breath." Ralfaius said to his youngest brother.

"Oh yeah... Wait! Jellyfish don't have brains. Deo told me so." Mio said to his aggressive brother.

"Exactly..." Ral replied as he took out his sais and charged at a group of assassins.

The assassins that threw the smoke-bombs landed in the thick smoke but thankfully wore goggles with smoke ventilators as they got ready to attack the gang from their hiding place with throwing knives and stars. Suddenly one was grabbed and thrown out of the smokescreen and hit the ground hard before he could even make a sound. The gang knew that the four in the smokescreen made a huge mistake. Inside the smokescreen the other three took notice to their missing partner as another was grabbed and swung into another as the last one turned around and saw Alpha's silhouette. The assassin panicked and threw his throwing weapons at the robot, only to plonk off his armor chest as Alpha catch the last one and break it in his hands with ease before grabbing the assassin by the face and threw him out of the smokescreen and then walked out of the smokescreen and joined the rest of the group.

"Great job Alpha. That will teach those bastards to mess with you." Aracane said to Alpha.

"They would be wise to learn not to try to blind my sensors with a smokescreen since I have infrared vision." Alpha replied.

The gang got serious again as they saw several more assassins appear. They all got ready for a wave of an attack from the small squad of assassins, but they reached into their vests and pulled out some more smoke-bombs and threw them. The gang coughed and waved the smoke away as best as they could before hearing a scream.

"Who's screaming? What's going on?" Sam shouted. When the smoke cleared, the gang saw the assassins retreating with Aelita kicking and hitting the lead assassin in vain as she was slung over his shoulder with the other assassins behind him.

"Aelita! We got to stop them!" Jeremie's voice said from Alpha s the others wasted no time and followed after her and the assassins.

The assassins made it to the high stairs and were halfway up ahead of the gang as several stopped and turned to face the gang. Z jumped and tackled one to the stairs before the assassin could hit him with his sword and slammed the assassins face into the stair and rolled flung down the steps. Eli'ton blocked an assassins duel blades with his arm blades and stabbed him in the stomach and tossed him aside as that assassin rolled down the stairs with a small trail of blood.

Kairaree threw her chain and wrapped around an assassins neck and pulled him down and falling into another one as they both hit they're heads on the steps and rolled down the stairs. Another assassin tried to strike down Aracane with a smaller battle ax, but Aracane's ax was far more powerful and knocked it out of the assassins hands and then in one swing, decapitated the assassin as his body fell back on the stairs and his head rolled down the stairs with some blood splotches hitting the steps.

Leadonus used his scythe to trip an assassin and sever the tendons on the back of his ankles, preventing him from being able to get back up as that assassin rolled down the stairs. Deotalus threw his trident at another assassin, but he ducked which was what Deo wanted as the trident embedded itself into the stone steps and Deo then ran around the distracted assassin as he grabbed the staff part and used it as support as he raised his legs and kicked the assassin in the side and caused him to roll down the steps and join the others at the bottom.

Knulgen took out the last one as he ducked down and grabbed the man by the waist and spin him around before throwing him head first into a step and watched as the assassin rolled head and legs down the high steps. "Bounce you motherfucker!" Was all Knulgen shouted before continuing to run up the stairs.

Finally they reached the top and went through the massive threshold and looked around the large courtyard. "Where is she? They couldn't have gotten far." Ulrich said as they all looked.

"Let me go! Do you hear me? Let me go now!" Aelita shouted as the gang looked and saw her and the assassin that was carrying her run into the front entrance of the fortress.

"After her, I will monitor for any surprise attacks." Alpha said as they all continued to run. Alpha turned around and saw the massive doors close behind them. He could tell that the doors were being closed by a internal mechanism before he caught up with the rest.

The gang ran through the beautiful courtyard until they finally reached the door. Aracane and Knulgen got to the doors double handles and slowly pulled the heavy door open as Alpha stood in front of the door with his laser guns ready to fire. They all walked into the lavish entryway of the fortress slowly. "This room is empty. My sensors are picking up Aelita straight ahead." Alpha said as they followed him through the door in front of them and down a long hall.

They reached a wooden door and went through the double door and into a room with two stairs going up to another open hall level with some armor of all kinds, and weapons against the walls, and a elegant mechanical clock at the top with it's exposed time hands and white surface which allowed people to see the silhouette of the gears behind it in the wall.

The gang stopped looking at the room and looked to see Aelita on the tile floor as she was just getting back up. "Aelita!" most of them shouted as Kairaree and Yumi ran over and both hugged her and helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay? Did you get out of that mans grip?" Yumi asked her.

"I'm fine. That man carried me into this room and then just put me on the ground and left only moments ago." She said to them.

"I'm just glad your okay Aelita. But now we need to get out of here." Jeremie's voice said.

"This is obviously a trap, but for what reason? Why are they attacking us?" Ulrich asked as the sound of hands slowly clapping caught their attention, and they all turned to the top of the stairs to see a human man with two swords walk over to the top center of the second floor and the massive clock.

"I'm so glad you figured it's a trap. Welcome to my fortress. You all are going to make me and my elites very rich today. My name is Gabriel of the Blades, and by the end of this day you all, except for your pink haired friend, will not leave this place alive." Gabriel said to them with a cruel smile as he leaned over the rails. The gang draw the rest of they're weapons and got ready for whatever the man and his fortress filled with who knows how many other kinds of warriors as the gang knew that they have walked right into the center of a trap.

**END CHAPTER.**


	23. THE FIVE ELITES

**CHAPTER 23: THE FIVE ELITES**

The man known as Gabriel stared at them with a smile while the gang stood ready with their weapons. "What do you mean you've been waiting for us? Who hired you to kill us? Was it Xana?" Ulrich asked the man as he pointed his sword at him.

"Unless you plan on using that, you better put those little swords of yours away before you hurt yourself boy." Gabriel replied from his high perch. "I don't know exactly who hired us. He wouldn't give me a name, he just went by 'S' and from the sound of it, must be a very heavy smoker. But no matter, we're getting paid one million for each of you, 13 million for your little pink haired friend alive, and 30 million for your robot. So in all, 60 million big ones." Gabriel said as he raised his hands.

"So you have been hired by Xana." Aelita said.

"I don't really care who hired us as long as they pay. The point is that you are all going to die, your little pink head will be turned over to our employer and your robot will be sent in pieces, and that's all there is to it. Now my paydays, prepare to make peace with yourselves." Gabriel laughed as the gang noticed a number of the walls began to slide open as people dressed similar to the assassins but with they're faces not masked, jumped out and drew their swords and attacked the group.

The gang circled up with Aelita in the center as the gang defended themselves. Aracane held three assassins at bay as his ax and thier swords clashed and the four fought for dominance before Aracane pushed the three back and gave him the opening to strike as his ax cut through them with ease and they fell to the ground dead. Knulgen wasted no time as he sliced them down with his heavy tipped sword.

William was fighting an assassin on his own as he blocked the enemy sword with his padded right arm and shoved the assassin to the floor. He then raised his sword above the floored enemy but froze up and gave the assassin the opening to roll out from under his blade and grab his sword. William managed to regain himself before he jumped out of the assassins blade just in time as William swung his sword and hit the assassin in his side with the flat side of his sword and knocked the assassin to the ground as William took a breath.

Jack fought quickly and lethality as he used the Excalion to strike his enemy's down. Z stayed with his two kukri like machete blades in case there are more enemy's with guns as Z struck with lethal blows with the military grade weapons. An assassin jumped down from the second level at Z but fell to the ground dead as Kairaree threw one of her daggers into the center of the assassins back as Z turned and saw the dead assassin and the daggers handle sticking up as he looked up to her as she gave a small smile before blocking another assassins sword by holding up her chain in defense as Z quickly pulled the dagger out and threw it into the assassins neck, both finishing the man and giving Kairaree's dagger back as they both continued to fight.

At the second level, Gabriel watched as his warriors fall to the floor dead. Two doors burst open as two large men, a Human and a Arachun ran into the room on the second level. They were wearing metal helmets that covered their faces with visors covering the eyes and holes at the mouth area, their upper body's wore heavy metal armor with massive shoulder pads and heavy metal pads on the legs, groin area, and forearms. They both wielded large double headed war hammers and they both jumped off the ledges with a heavy thud and began to attack the group.

Leadonus jumped as the human swung his hammer into the ground and broke some of the floorboards. Lea then rolled behind him and swung his scythe at the large humans back only for the blade of his scythe to scrap against the metal back as the man turned around and swing down, missing Lea just barely as the elder Surfane brother jumped back and dropped his scythe and the hulking man kicked the scythe away.

But Leadonus wasn't finished as he pulled out his duel battle sickles and charged after him. He rolled under the human man as he brought his massive hammer down into the floor again as Lea slid under the enemies legs and cut the back of the big mans exposed knees, making the man yell in pain and fall to his knees as Lea got up and used one of his sickles and drive it into his exposed shoulder next to the neck and used the other sickle to stab it into the war hammer warriors neck, killing him as he fell face first into the floor before Leadonus could pull them out. He then pulled out the blades as blood spurted out and went to grab his scythe.

The other war hammer warrior went after Ralfaius and even laughed a little at Ral's sai weapons being used against the mans massive war hammer as Ral evaded the mans hammer and began to stab away at his chest, but the sais couldn't penetrate the armor and the man palmed him in the chest and sent the hot-head falling to his back as the man raised his hammer and swung down, but Ral rolled out of the way just in time and he then unsheathed his long knifes with the prongs at the guards and jumped at the man and sent one blade into the hammer guys exposed side and then into the back of his neck, killing the man in two blows and fell to the ground dead.

Alpha had no problem fighting as he simply grabbed and threw whatever enemy foolish enough to get close to him as he throw them into the walls, the glass displays shattering them, and even a few onto the second level, either all ending up dead or incapacitated for a long time.

Finally all the enemy's in the room were either dead or have retreated and the gang simply received a slow clap from Gabriel. "Well, well, well. You teens have some killer in you. I like that a lot, it reminds me when I was young, when I was your age. When I saw the world for what it was." Gabriel said as he reflected on his past.

"And that makes it okay for you to kill whoever and whenever? To kill people for money no matter who they are?" Kairaree asked him with anger.

"Your all one to talk. Even now your weapons are still dripping with the blood of your fallen enemies." Gabriel pointed to them as their weapons dripped blood like he said.

"We only kill when necessary. Not like you, not when there's money involved. And unlike you, we don't take any joy in it either." Aracane replied.

"Well most of you do. Your other friends here have barely put a scratch on your enemies." Gabriel said as he looked at Ulrich, Yumi, Sam, Odd, and William. "So tell me you five, is it fair your friends should be the only ones to get they're hands bloody? Is it fair that they get to continue to carry the weight of their fallen opponents while you all travel light?" Gabriel asked the five.

They couldn't think of a reply, all they could do is look down at their clean weapons and then look over to their friends and they're bloodstained weapons. "If you ask me it's quite selfish of you. If you fight by the weapons, then you must kill by the weapons, and die by the weapons. That's the way of the stone-cold killer." Gab added with a smile.

"We are not coldblooded killers! We kill only if we have to, and neither are we going to be goaded into your sick little game! We're getting out of here and we will get rid of you and your elites in the process." Z shouted as he pulled out his main handgun and fired away. But Gabriel predicted this and ducked down behind the rails and rolled to the nearest door.

"Very good shots boy, if I haven't thought you were going to do that, I would have been killed." Gabriel called out to them.

"Come back here and fight, if your such a deadly killer." Knulgen dared him.

"In good time, in good time. More of my warriors will be coming for you all, I suggest you all get moving before they find you." Gabriel laughed before his voice faded away. The gang heard the sound of running footsteps coming their way as they turned to hear where they were coming from. The stampede of enemy's was coming from the hall that they were in.

"Multiple enemy's in route. I suggest we leave this room and find a better location to fight." Alpha said to the gang.

"Good idea. You heard the robot guys, lets move." Z said as the gang ran to the door in between the stair flight and went through it. They ran down the halls while avoiding any trouble that's looking for them. They stopped to catch their breath and think of a plan.

"Okay guys, obviously if we try to leave their just going to hunt us down, so we need to find Gabriel and his elites and take them out and maybe the rest will disband and leave us alone." Deotalus said to everyone.

"I love his plan, short, simple, and easy to remember." Knulgen said with a smile.

"Except we need to find them and we don't know what the other four look like." William pointed out.

"Maybe they might join up with Gabriel and try to take us out then. We need to catch them off guard and strike them." Aracane added.

"Then I suggest we start searching, and we need to be careful. Who knows what's around the corner." Ulrich said as he walked ahead of them a little. No more then a few seconds later, a massive and thick grate wall with square holes came down and blocked Ulrich from the rest of them.

"Ulrich!" Yumi shouted as she ran up and grabbed at the thick flat bars and pulled at them in vain. "Alpha hurry, lift the bars and get him out!" She said to the robot. Alpha nodded as he began to walk over only to turn and see five troops in gray uniforms run into the long hall where the gang was in. They raised their guns at them and got ready to fire.

"Guys get out of here now! You'll only get killed!" Ulrich demanded.

"But Ulrich we can't-" Yumi tried to reason.

"Go! I'll find a way to get back with you all, now go!" Ulrich said as he ran away to give them no reason to stay in the same room as them. The gang ran down another hall just in time as the troops fired their guns, only hitting the walls and metal bars of the cage that separated Ulrich from the others.

The gang continued to run down the halls while hoping to find Ulrich in the process as they turned another corner and another grate came down from the roof and hit the floor hard. "Shit! Another grate. Good thing it missed us." Eli'ton said as they stopped and turned.

"I wouldn't be to sure of that..." The gang looked and noticed that Odd was on the other side.

"Odd! Not you too." Sam said as she ran to where he was on the other side.

"I'm fine for right now, but I can hear them coming. You guys get going and I'll try to find Ulrich and join up with you all as soon as I can." Odd said as he ran away. Sam put her arm through the grate as if she would be able to pull him in with the rest, but it was all in vain as Bel'la gently pulled her away and they continued to run.

They turned another corner and ran down a bigger hallway with another open level. They stopped for a moment to think of a plan before several warriors in blue assassin like suits jumped down and attacked the group. One grabbed Sam from behind and carried her in a hall as she screamed in surprise as another grate came down and locked Sam away from the others. Before Sam could even notice, the warrior that grabbed her simply threw her to the floor and run down the hall he brought her in. "You coward! What are you doing?" Sam yelled out as she got up but that warrior was already gone.

"Dammit! Now Sam is separated from us. There is something going on here." Deotalus said as he knocked one of the warrior enemy's to the floor.

"Looks like you may be right, but for what reason are they separating us for?" Sam said as she shook the bars.

"We got company guys. More enemies with guns!" Miodelus shouted as a dozen or so troops in green army suits with large assault rifles aimed at the group. Sam was already down the hall and the other gang have already left the room with the sound of bullets hitting the room they were just in.

The gang was down by three. Alpha fired at any enemy's that tried to run up from behind them while they tried to find their missing friends as they ran into another entryway. "This place is huge! And we're only on the first floor." Ralfaius said as he looked around.

"Actually we've gone up two levels. Remember those stairs? We've been running for at least fifteen minutes now." Deotalus corrected.

"We still haven't found Ulrich, Sam, and Odd, and we have a large number of enemy's and some crazy guy after us." Yumi said as she paced around.

"Yumi don't worry. We'll find them, I know we will." William assured her as they continued to pass through another door and down another hall with William in the front of them. Suddenly he heard a loud clunk and looked up, his eyes went wide with shock. "Yumi look out!" William shouted as he pushed her away just as another grate came down and cut him off from the rest. "Damn, damn, damn!" William shouted as he banged against the grate.

"They are definitely watching us. How else could they cut us off so effectively?" Z said as he looked at the grate.

"This is all my fault. If I haven't got caught, we would have never been separated and in danger." Aelita said sadly, almost ready to cry.

"It's not your fault Aelita, this was planned. We just have to stick together and find a way to get out of this." Yumi said as she put her hands on her shoulders.

"I'll catch up with you guys, just get out of here before they find you too." William said and ran off to find a way back to them. The gang turned around and went down another hall.

Z stopped and looked up and saw a black lenses like device in the top of an arch and noticed it was a camera. He flipped it off before pulling out his gun and shot the camera before joining the group. Somewhere in the fortress, a person at a camera monitoring room slammed his fists in anger at the lost signal.

Z caught up with the rest of the group as they all found another double doors and they opened it in hopes of finding the others only to find another open garden. "Anybody up for a little garden work?" Knulgen joked as they slowly walked out into the open garden. The garden was mostly made with stone floors and even a few stone statues and some wooden arches here and there.

"Well we won't be finding the others out here Yumi... Yumi?" Aracane said as he and the others turned to see Yumi gone from their sites. "When did Yumi leave us? Dammit, she must have gotten too worried and decided to look for them." Aracane said gruffly.

"I'm afraid she's on her own, we got our own problem now!" Jack said as they all turned and saw a number of warriors run into the courtyard garden. They were of all kinds of species and wore all kinds of clothes and armor ranging from assassin like wares to heavy leather and metal armor, and military suits with the tags that show where they came from were ripped off and a range of weapons an firearms. From swords to war hammers and axes and maces and spears and staff-blades and all variety of throwing weapons, and they all looked like they came from all over the world and from all kinds of warrior creeds and military's.

"Well guys, if we wanted variety, we got it." Knulgen said as he drew his sword.

"Dammit Yumi. You better not get killed." Z said as he pulled out his machete and one of his handguns and the guys got ready for the battle ahead.

"Mission started: eliminate all enemies and regroup with the rest. Aelita, stay back." Alpha said as his clear eyes turned red.

()()()()()()()()()

Yumi ran down the halls of the massive fortress while more and more grates came down as if to route her through out the fortress. "Sorry guys, but I just don't like the way this is going with this place." Yumi said to herself as another grate came down and blocked her off again. As she continued down the halls, more grates came down until she was cut off from all around except for one route which she had no choice but to follow until she saw a tall flight of stairs. Against her better judgment she slowly walked up the stairs which was very high, at least several levels until she saw an opening and walked out.

She exited a door with a short bridge that lead to a flat open tower like roof with wooden floors and a large pointed cover that made the whole area look like a large open room. Yumi looked over and saw the lower parts of the fortress and even managed to see her friends down below in the inner courtyard where she left them and then looked up to see several more tower roofs that weren't to far from them, but not to close. Their distances were like that of watch posts that you would find in a fortress.

Yumi then heard a laugh and looked over to see a woman in red standing on the other side. Suddenly a shimmering item came flying at her but Yumi managed to jump out of the way in time as the item came flying back to the woman. "Interesting, very good there young lady. You managed to dodge my fan-blade. This fight just got interesting." The woman Ella said as Yumi slowly began to make her way to the woman since she knew she couldn't run away.

()()()()()()()()

William was routed just like Yumi and walked up a flight of stairs into the same type of place Yumi was in and saw a Arachun man holding a large blade with his back to William as he looked over the rails as if he was watching something.

()()()()()()()()

Odd found a flight of stairs and unwittingly followed the stairs until he found another tower like roof. He walked out into the middle of the open floor, unaware that there was someone on the support beams of the roof looking down at him with shinning eyes.

()()()()()()()()

Sam also found the same kind of tower and saw a Molknuc woman leaning against one of the large support beams that held the roof up with a large wine bottle and drank from it. She stopped and wiped her mouth and burped a little as she noticed Sam and threw the empty bottle over the rails.

()()()()()()()()

Ulrich has ran for so long that he lost track of time. He figured he was being watched since the grates kept coming down and in his way. He was then finally cut off and unable to go anywhere until he saw a hallway that lead up a flight of stairs. Having no other options, he walked up the stairs until he found the same kind of roof his friends were on and he didn't even know it. He looked over to the center of the roof and saw the very man that was in charge.

Gabriel stood there in the middle of the roof, holding his broadsword into the floor for support like a cane with a wicked grin. "You. The one in charge of this whole place. You were waiting for me, weren't you?" Ulrich growled as he began to reach for his swords.

"Again, if your going to carry swords, then you better be willing to use them." Gabriel said as he drew his broadsword and threw the sheath aside.

"I am not going to give into you and your games. Let us go and be done with it." Ulrich shot back as he drew both his swords.

"There's no point in trying to talk me out of it. And more importantly don't even try to run. It's a straight drop and the door behind you is locked, so the only choices you have is to either die here or... kill me boy." Gabriel said with a grin as he attacked Ulrich.

Gabriel was far more skilled then Ulrich thought as Gabriel started with a furious combo before doing a jump strike, missing Ulrich only slightly as Gabriels large sword broke some of the floor boards and swung at Ulrich, but he quickly crossed his blades just in time. "Very good boy, your better then you look." Gabriel said with a smile.

()()()()()()()()()

The Cataranion man pounced down from the support beams with his claws aimed right at Odd, but thanks to Odd's heighten senses he managed to roll out of the way just in time and dodge the mans claws and metal tail and it's arrow tip. "A metal tail? You have one of those full metal prosthetic for a tail!" Odd said as he flipped back onto his feet and flicked his claws out in defense.

The red haired Cataranion stood back up and slowly turned to him. His face was cold and blank with no form of remorse or kindness. "You are the one I was tasked to take down, you are the one I need to kill. Just let me finish you and you won't suffer, to be honest, it's simply the best way to go." The Cataranion said as he lunged at Odd with his claws swinging like a lion taking down it's prey. He almost managed to stab Odd in the chest with the back blade of his gauntlet.

"Who are you? Are you one of the elites that Gabriel guy was talking about?" Odd asked as he blocked another claw attack and put them in a claw lock.

"If you must know, my name is Fer-al. And yes, I am one of the 'elites' that Gabriel keeps calling us because we're the best killers out of the whole fortress." Fer-al said as he kicked Odd away and tried to hit him with his metal tail but Odd narrowly missed it and their fight continued.

()()()()()()()()()

William slowly approached the Arachun that stood over the far end of the open roof. William was only a few meters from the man who was still holding his blade by the center part where the long holes were. William noticed that the curved blade had no tip but another handle, he wondered why the sword had two handles. "Tell me boy," The Arachun said which surprised William. "Is your blade sharp?" He asked.

William wasn't sure how to respond to the strange question, but decided to just answer. "Yes... Yes it is sharp. Although I don't see why that would matter to you." William replied with his tone a little firmer.

"Then good." The Arachun man replied as he reached for the handle on the right side and swung with his body at William. He quickly jumped back as the man swung his blade down, only to miss William and embed the blade into the floor, but he let go of the handle and leaped for the other handle and grabbed it and pulled the blade out and swung at William again, missing his side with the blade, but struck him with the long handle which made William fall to the ground and painfully flip back onto his feet.

"Why are you so concerned about my blade being sharp? Who are you and why did you have me lead here?" William demanded as he clutched his bruised side.

"My name is Ulsar. I am one of the elites of this fortress. And as to why I care if your blade is sharp is because, when a blade is sharp, death is quick for your enemies." Ulsar answered as he slung his blade over his shoulder.

"If your preferring I use my sword to kill, then you can forget it. I'm not going to kill just for the hell of it!" William replied as he raised his sword in defense.

"Then that's a damn shame!" Ulsar shouted as he attacked William. They're blades clashed and sparked as Ulsar kept going on the offense. "The very purpose of a blade, whether it is a sword, an ax, a knife, a dagger, a spear, or anything else. A blades purpose is to cut down your opponent before they cut you down. To deny your sword that right is to deny it's existence. And if you can't do that, then you have no right to use it!" Ulsar said in between strikes as he kept flipping handles, which kept catching William off guard since he wasn't used to this new kind of fighting style.

()()()()()()()()()

The Molknuc woman slowly walked towards Sam, or more like stagger toward her and could tell her face was a little red, or at least redder. "So your Sam. I'm Panlu, one of the elites that Gabriel calls us. I'm not going to mince words, I've been waiting up here for you... or at least waiting and drinking so I can kill you." Panlu said as she took a swig from a flask in her pocket.

"Kill me? Your one of the elites that Gabriel was talking about. Well I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not going to die here, especially not for some bounty." Sam replied as she pulled out her blunt tonfas and prepared for battle.

"Well sorry to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that you have no choice." Panlu said as she threw her flask at Sam which she then instinctively knocked the flask away with her weapon, only to see Panlu lunge at her with her right hand extended as the blade weapon that was attached near her elbow flip up and grabbed the handle in an attempt to stab her in the chest.

Sam quickly leaned back as the blade nicked a few of her hairs before she knocked the blade away with her tonfa and flipped back. "Not bad little girl. If I was sober, you would be dead." Panlu said as she stood back up straight but staggered a little.

"I've always been told to never drink and drive. But someone should have told you not to drink and fight!" Sam said as she charged and attacked Panlu in hopes of knocking her out, but Panlu was a much better fighter then she thought as she blocked her attacks with a mix of avoiding and staggering. Sam knew this was going to be a hard battle.

()()()()()()()()()

"My goodness, you're even cuter up close. Such fair porcelain skin and soft raven black hair. I wish I can just touch you all night long." Ella said lustfully as she pulled out another fan-blade.

Yumi cringed at the remark but did the same thing and pulled out two of her fan-blades and got ready for a fight. "I don't know what kind of game your playing with me, but your not like the others in this fortress, so you must be one of the elites Gabriel was talking about." Yumi said as she walked closer to the woman.

"My, my, gorgeous and smart. You're right, I am one of the elites. My name is Ella, and as much as I hate to say this, I need to kill you." Ella said as she slowly licked the blade of her fan. "It's too bad, I really wish I could have gotten you in my bed before I had to end you, oh well." She said with a little sadness as she got ready to throw one of her fan-blades.

"Sorry, not that I'm against that kind of thing, people should love who they want regardless of gender, but I'm not just going to jump into anyone's bed either." Yumi replied as she got in her stance, ready for her attack.

"_Chuckle_, You think I just like women? No sweetheart, I simply love laying with both men and women, and young girls and boys most of the time. Their young bodies all over me as we pleasure and make love to each other. There was even this one time where I had four teenage girls with me and they pleasured and worshiped my body like a goddess." Ella quivered and slowly rubbed her closed fan-blade over her face.

"Stop! Just stop! You think I like hearing you take advantage of underage teenagers? You must have some real problem, your sick in the head, and I know now this isn't about sexual preferences. Your just some kind of seductress that practically molests confused kids for your own pleasure." Yumi accused as she pointed her fan-blade at the woman.

Ella simply smiled as she then threw both her fan-blades at Yumi. She rolled from under them only to see Ella come at her with a short sword, just like the one strapped to Yumi's lower back. Yumi quickly dodged her blade just as Ella started kicking away at her with her tight black, leg long boots.

Her high-heel point barely missed her face as Yumi noticed that the heel point was like a blade and dodged another kick from her other leg, Yumi knew then that she was trying to stab her with her heel point as Ella flipped to her other bladed heel and managed to nick Yumi in the side of her neck before flipping back.

Yumi put one of her fan-blades away and put her hand to her neck and felt a little bit of blood before she drew her short sword from her back sheath. "You even have a short sword, your just full of surprises. It's almost like we're sisters." Ella said as she prepared for another assault.

"Well thank my gods that we're not sisters. The very thought of it would make me sick to my stomach." Yumi replied.

"Oh live a little young lady." Ella rolled her eyes and began another assault. She started with a few combos and kicks then lunged at Yumi with her short sword only to miss, but then threw another fan- blade at Yumi which barely missed her and only gave her a small cut on her left cheek as she winced from the fresh cut as Ella jumped and tried to stab Yumi, but she quickly dodged the blade and did a leg sweep and tripped Ella, but Ella returned the favor and kicked Yumi's legs out from under her and leaped on top of her and pinned her arms at her sides.

"This is so wonderful. I haven't had a good fight in a long time, I wish we could make it last forever." Ella said as she leaned down to kiss Yumi, but she quickly used all her strength in her legs and flipped Ella forward and off her, but Ella landed on her feet with ease as the long part of her coat gently floated to the floor. "Why can't you let me have any fun?" She joked.

"Because your sick and deranged." Yumi replied with disgust as she got back on her feet.

"Your right, I am sick." Ella said with a softer tone. Yumi raised her eyebrow in curiosity at this strange change in personality. "My fucked up life has twisted me in ways you can only imagine. I didn't use to be like this. I was born in a war torn land filled with all kinds of horrible soldiers fighting for whatever kind of rebel cause or whatever bullshit they thought they were changing." Ella continued as she slowly started walking towards Yumi, but she still kept her guard up.

"Relax, I'm not going to do anything at the moment, consider this a break." Ella assured her as she turned around to her. "Those rebel bastards, they were filled with all kinds of lies, saying that they would change the land, change the course of our country. But all they ever did was cause more problems and more death. And let's just say that soldiers get lonely and get desperate for either a grown woman, or even... a little girl." Ella finished as she dropped her coat and had it hang by her elbows as Yumi then heard the sound of a zipper being pulled as she slid the corset like top down while her back was still turned and reviled a disturbing surprise. Yumi gasped in pure shock and horror as Ella reviled a number of long scars and burns all over her back.

"When I got disobedient they would hurt me, cut me, burn me, and even stab me. And since I was so young, they didn't even bother with protection. They kept me for a few years until one night, one of them came in to have fun with me. After he finished I managed to grab his knife and kill him, then I sneaked out and killed them all in my sleep. Ever since then I've dedicated my life to fight and kill until I die." Ella said as she thought back to those horrible years as she put her clothes back on.

"I'm... I'm so sorry, I can't believe people could do that to little girls. I know horrible things like that happen in places like that but still-" Yumi tried to reason.

"Well it does! It happens to little boys and girls and babies and adults and anything else in between. Soldiers think they're fighting for a noble cause, but all their doing is getting away with rape and murder. After a few years of honing my skills of seduction and killing targets by luring them to my body. I met Gabriel and I joined him. I gave myself a real cause to fight for, even if it's mostly about money." Ella said as she got her fan-blade and short sword ready.

"And even after all you just told me, you still want to fight and kill me?" Yumi said as she got ready for the next round.

"I still have a job to do. So please just make it easy on yourself and I promise I will kill you with dignity and respect... that is unless you kill me first!" Ella said as she ran at Yumi with full force and their battle continued.

()()()()()()()()()

Sam continued to block Panlu's attacks with her blunt tonfas, but Panlu's unique weapon was hard to counter because Sam couldn't disarm her since the weapons were strapped near her elbows with hinges for the blades to swing back and forth.

Sam then got an idea as she jumped back and quickly sheathed one of her blunt tonfas and pulled out a bladed one and got back in the fight as she then swung with the sharp blade at Panlu, but she leaned back from the blade which was what Sam wanted as she then used the blunt tonfa and hit the blade of Panlu's arm so hard that she let go of the handle and Sam then dropped her blunt tonfa and grabbed the handle of Panlu's weapon and then dropped her bladed tonfa and undid the straps on Panlu's weapon while throwing her to the ground.

With one of Panlu's arm blades off her, Sam threw the weapon off the roof and quickly picked up both of her weapons before Panlu got back up and chuckled a little. "You really think that getting rid of one of my weapons is going to stop me?" Panlu said as she reached for the weapon on her back. "Think again little lady!" She shouted and attacked Sam with the hammer tonfa. Panlu's new weapon was faster to swing with then Sam thought as she dodged her attacks and even felt the wind as Sam missed an attack from the hammer tonfa that almost hit her in the face.

Panlu then kicked Sam's legs out from under her and fell to her back. She gasped from the pain and then saw Panlu's hammer tonfa coming down on her head, but Sam quickly rolled out just in time as Panlu broke some of the floorboards from the weapon weight. Sam rolled back onto her feet and got ready for another assault. "I gotta admit, that hammer tonfa is very effective. It's twice the width of a normal tonfa and is very heavy for powerful attacks." Sam commented with a little sarcasm.

"You think your funny? Well guess what, your not. All my life I've dealt with worthless bastards. The only thing I could trust was the bottle, and defiantly not my abusive uncle that took me in when I was a little girl." Panlu said as she twirled her hammer tonfa around.

"I'm sorry to hear that but drinking has never solved anything. Especially if all your life has revolved around killing people for money, regardless of who your targets are." Sam replied.

"Trust me, booze helps numb the pain. Gabriel found me in a bar in some useless slum and gave me a better purpose then just collecting bounty's and drinking in a bar all night. So that is why I fight, that is why I kill, so unless you want to die here girl, then just let me finish you. If not, then you better take the next step. You better be willing to kill in order to survive. It's the simplest rule, kill or be killed. So Sam... what's it going to be?!" Panlu asked as she attacked with her hammer tonfa and other arm blade, continuing their fight.

()()()()()()()()

William had been barely able to hold his ground against Ulsar as the Arachun man attacked very aggressively with his double handled weapon. William had never fought someone with a large sword before, especially a large curved sword with two handles at the ends. William deflected another blow but was knocked down from the force of the blow. Ulsar stood in front of him as if he was waiting for William to do something. William quickly rolled back onto his feet and held his sword in a defensive stance.

"So... you really can't do it?" Ulsar suddenly said.

"What? What are you talking about? Do what?" William questioned.

"I stood in front of you on purpose to see if you would try to kill me, but you didn't. Instead you hesitated and rolled back on your feet. You have a powerful weapon that is sharp and deadly, yet you don't use it to strike me down." Ulsar replied as he swung his blade a little before slinging it over his shoulder.

"I'm not some coldblooded mercenary like you. I don't kill just for the hell of it like you all." William sneered at Ulsar.

"I once thought like you did. There was a time when I thought bloodshed never solved anything. I was raised by a kind Lizardin blacksmith that took me in when I was young. He became like a father to me, I would make amazing weapons with him. Swords that were a work of art, axes that could cut through hard objects with ease, knifes that could be thrown with perfect precision and many other weapons." Ulsar said as he slowly and gently ran his finger on the blade of his sword.

"I'm guessing something happened, something terrible?" Willliam asked as he lowered his sword.

Ulsar stopped and looked up to William. "My master taught me everything about forging, and that a weapon even in this day and age is a tool of justice, a way to protect others. But one day when I was a teen around your age, a man came in and picked up a sword that my master made especially for him, he refused to pay and attacked and killed my master." Ulsar said as his tone became somber.

"I saw the whole thing in the other room, my whole world was gone in one swing of a sword that some bastard wouldn't pay for. I saw red as I charged him and killed him with his own blade." Ulsar said as he began to get angry. "That's when I realized that everything he told me was a lie. Weapons are not a tool for helping others, their meant to take lives and nothing more! They aren't meant for anything else then to kill, pure and simple. So I took every metal weapon I could find and melted it all down and in a few months made the weapon you see here." Ulsar said as he did a slow swing with his weapon.

"When my blade was complete, I then went into mercenary work, striking down my targets with my blade, many years into my adulthood. Then one day, Gabriel found me and I joined him when I realized he could bring me more challenges, stronger opponents, deadlier warriors. My life is for the thrill of battle, to take down as many with my sword as I can." Ulsar said as he got ready to attack.

"Your master would be real proud," William said in disgust. "You know as well as I do that this is not the life your master would have wanted for you. In your grief you chose to destroy his work and made a weapon for killing just because of the actions of some deadbeat. So in the end you just ignored everything he taught you and went into a life of killing. But I will tell you this, you wont be killing anybody today. Me and my friends are getting out of here." William said as he got ready for Ulsar's attack.

"You just don't get it. Your going to die today unless you use that sword for what it's meant for and kill me before I kill you. That's the simplest rule, kill or be killed. So tell me boy... are you ready?" Ulsar asked as he attacked William with rage.

()()()()()()()()

Odd and Fer-al fought like a tiger and a lion in the wild. They ran around each other and closed in enough to take a swing with their claws. There was even a few times where they would get on all fours and run which was much easier for they're species to do. Fer-al then tackled Odd and got on top of him. Fer-al then held Odd at the shoulder with his hand while digging his pointed fingernails into Odd's shoulders which made Odd growl in pain as Fer-al raised his other arm and pointed the claws at Odd's face.

Odd quickly made his left claws retract and punched Fer-al in the face which made the older Cataranion both roll and fall off as they both got back on their feet. "Fool, you had me yet you just punched me." Fer-al said as he spit a little blood out.

"You should be glad I don't just fire a few arrows at you instead." Odd threatened.

"You think you can fool me? I know you boy, you don't have what it takes to survive. I was a child soldier since I was ten, my tail was cut off by a militant when I was your age but I managed to kill him and then got a full metal tail." Fer-al said while he slowly began to pace towards Odd.

"I'm not the kind of guy that's going to lie down and die, and I'm not going to kill just to prove a point. Especially to someone like you!" Odd pointed while making his claws come back out.

"It's not about proving points boy. I gained the reputation as 'The Stalker' when I was your age. I would hunt my targets and take them out with the claws you see on my arms, unfortunately they cannot retract like yours, but no matter. If you can't kill, then you can't survive. Your weak, and just like the weak, they deserve to die. So unless you want to die on this roof today, you better kill me instead. So what's it going to be boy? Which predator has killer instincts!" Fer-al roared and attacked Odd, thus continuing their battle.

()()()()()()()()

Aracane slammed three assassins to the stone floor as two armored warriors grabbed him from behind, but Aracane elbowed both of them right in the face with a spurt of blood from they're broken noses. Knulgen swung and cut open the throat of a fighter with a large sword then cut down another warrior that looked like he came from some tribe.

"Bel'la threw her staff-blade and it sunk into the chest of an incoming opponent who then fell to her back dead as Bel'la quickly ran and retrieved her weapon before slicing down another opponent. Eli'ton blocked two sword blows with both his blade gauntlets and then pushed the enemies away and killed them without effort.

The Surfane brothers worked in sync with their weapons as enemy after enemy fell. Jack stabbed his blade into the ground and then slapped his hand to the stone ground. Veins of light ran through the ground and the stone floor burst into rocky pillars that sent the incoming enemy's that surrounded him several feet into the air and landed very hard to the ground.

Z finally took out both his handguns and fired away at the deserter troops who attacked him with assault rifles. He then holstered his guns as a man with an assault shotgun tried to butt him with the stock, but Z disarmed him and fired a shell at point blank range into his chest and took the drum clips from the mans belt and claimed it as his new weapon and began to shoot down enemy after enemy.

Kairaree swiftly stabbed several opponents that seemed to come from several tribes with her daggers in both hands and even had a dagger being held by her tail and even held one by her teeth as a tribal with an ax tried to hit her, but she dodged and stabbed the man in the back before throwing her other dagger at an incoming enemy, then retrieved it and put it away and took out her chain weapon and used it to trip several enemy's in one sweep.

"We need to get back inside! We will have a better advantage, and we need to find Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Sam, and William and get the hell out of this place." Deotalus said as he stabbed an opponent in the chest with his trident.

"Deo's right, we need to get inside. We've been away from the others for too long. They must be in danger." Aelita said. Alpha stood in front of her to protect her from the many enemies in the courtyard.

"Then let's head back inside and look for them." Alpha said as he went to the same doors that they exited and ripped the locked metal and wooden doors right off the hinges and threw both the doors at two groups of enemy's before everyone retreated inside.

The inside of the building was no better as the halls had a number of enemy's in it. They picked a hall and ran down it. There was still some grates here and there, but Alpha either rammed right through or ripped them down. "These grates will greatly inhibit our ability to find the others faster, and I'm picking up too many heat signatures and heartbeats to pinpoint them. I still need a more accurate scan of you all to identify you all better." Alpha said as he ripped down another grate and threw it aside.

"If we find the master control of this place, we could disable it and have all the grates lifted. And since this place has cameras built into it, we could find the other five and break up into groups and find them faster." Deotalus said as another squad came into the hall.

Alpha raised his right arm and the top part of his arm had a slot that opened and three smooth barrels came up. The barrels charged with a red light in each barrel and three long beams burst out like an energy missile and hit the squad and made the area blow up, finishing them off.

"Wow Alpha! What else do you have up your sleeves?" Miodelus asked.

"I do not have sleeves. My arms are made of both metal plating and synthetic muscle fiber under the plating with a number of gears and wires and several other components." Alpha replied, still not getting metaphors.

The control room will most likely be in the center of the building since this damn place is so big and they would want to keep that kind of room protected the most." Z said as another opponent ran into the room but Z did a quick draw and hit the soldier right between the eyes.

"My scans are picking up a number of electrical equipment, follow me and I will lead you all to the control room and we will then override the system and find the others." Alpha said as he began to lead them.

"Then we don't have a moment to loose. Alpha, please proceed." Jack said as the gang began to follow Alpha and hopefully find the other five safe and sound soon.

()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich was not fairing well against Gabriel. He was much stronger then Ulrich thought as Gabriel swung his large broadsword with powerful strikes. Gabriel then swung his sword and Ulrich quickly raised his sabers, only to be knocked to the ground hard. Gabriel then raised his sword over Ulrich, but he quickly rolled out of the way just in time as his broadsword broke the floorboards where Ulrich was lying moments ago.

Ulrich got back on his feet and attacked Gabriel with lengthy combo strikes and in his blind anger cut Gabriel in the neck. Gabriel leaped back and touched the cut and chuckled. "Hmm, Maybe I underestimated you. If that strike was closer, you may have inflicted a fatal cut." Gabriel said as he slowly rubbed the bleeding cut.

"Just get out of my way. I've had enough of you and your sick little games. If you want to die then go get killed in some big fight instead of trying to make me do it." Ulrich said as he raised his sabers.

"If you think I'm trying to get myself killed then your gravely mistaken. The path of the killer is to live in the moment, to make every strike and kill count. A persons life is not guaranteed day by day. That is especially true for people like us, people who fight and kill. So I want you to take action, I want to see if you will either die here or become infamous like me, become a stone killer." Gabriel laughed and drew his katana like sword.

"I'm not going to become a stone killer like you, I will never be anything like you." Ulrich defended as he got ready for another attack.

"Well in the end, that's your choice. So to give you a little edge in this fight, I'm going to teach you a technique of mine that I've developed, I call it The Perfect Parry, a single action with two results. One attack can deflect an enemy attack and deliver a killing blow in one move, it's all a matter of timing." Gabriel said as he raised his swords.

"Why are you showing me something like this? What reason would you have to share your technique with someone like me?" Ulrich asked him.

"Simple, if you choose to kill me here, then at least I can leave something for this world. Something to pass on to a worthy warrior. So tell me boy, are you worthy? Are you able to take my life and learn a powerful move? Well my boy, there's only one way to find out." Gabriel said as he attacked Ulrich with powerful blows.

Their battle continued just like the other four that were fighting their own personal battle and the other fourteen members of the group looking for the master control of the fortress.

()()()()()()()()()()

A great deal of the students managed to get to the recreation room and watch while across town in the secret building the gangs parents and Odd's sisters and the two agents were, watched with concern as the parents children fought against warriors that were way more experienced then their fighting teenage children. They could only hope that this will end well and that they won't have to do what they feared. But as the battles went on, the parents weren't so sure if they will survive. Only time will tell how the battles will end.

**END CHAPTER.**


	24. FIRST BLOOD

**CHAPTER 24: FIRST BLOOD**

Back on Earth in the secret home that the gangs parents were, they watched with great tension as their children fought with all their might while their Earthera born friends desperately looked for a way to turn off the lockdown through out the fortress while fighting off wave after wave of various enemy warriors. A number of students got into the student recreation room. The most common students like Emily, Milly, Tamiya, and Sissi and her followers watched as the gang battled for their lives.

()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich blocked several blows from Gabriel's swords. His broadsword was heavy and powerful, while his katana like blade fast and light, throwing Ulrich off balance between the swords. Their swords clashed together and they stood there, holding against each other as Gabriel smiled at Ulrich.

"Now to teach you my perfect parry. When you block an opponents attack, you then push back on them at the same time as you block. The impact will throw your opponent off balance and you then strike, especially with duel swords, so you have a better chance of deflecting and attacking simultaneously. If you do it right it will seem like you killed your opponent in one attack regardless of them blocking your attack." Gabriel instructed as he pushed Ulrich back and began another assault on the young boy.

"Thanks for the demo, but I still don't want the game." Ulrich mocked as he blocked another attack from him.

"Funny boy, it's your choice if you want the full game or not. But just remember, you might regret not taking my technique to heart." Gabriel said as he attacked Ulrich again. He swung a few times with his blades and then kicked Ulrich in the chest and Ulrich fell to the floor hard as Gabriel then tried to stab Ulrich, but he knocked his blade away just in time as Gabriel attacked with his katana blade and cut Ulrich in the side of his neck as Ulrich rolled away to think of a plan.

"I can't win against this guy. He's going to kill me unless... unless I... no I can't, I can't do it, I just can't. But if I don't he's going to kill me, what should I do?" Ulrich murmured to himself as he looked towards Gabriel who was about to attack again while still wrestling with his inner struggle as he fought against another attack.

()()()()()()()()

Another fan-blade flew by Yumi's face and made another but smaller cut on her other cheek as Ella lunged at her with a furry of swings from her short katana blade, but Yumi managed to block her blade with her own and had them both holding their blades against each other.

"Please stop struggling! I don't want to cut that gorgeous face of yours anymore then it is! Let me just finish you and I will bury you in such a beautiful manner." Ella tried to reason as she cupped Yumi's face with her free hand.

Yumi reacted and pushed her away and at the same time cut through Ella's gloved arm and made a small cut on the side of her wrist. "Don't you touch me! You keep your hands off me or I'll-" Yumi yelled as she pointed her blade at her but Ella then interrupted.

"Or you'll what? Kill me? I would love to see you try. Why are you getting so worked up about being touched? Did something happen to you at a young age? Why do you not like being touched? Are you saving it for someone? Is it that brown haired boy that's fighting Gabriel right now?" Ella practically interrogated while slowly rubbing the deep cut with two fingers.

"If your suggesting that I've been touched at a young age then your horribly wrong. I don't hate being touched, I just don't like being practically molested by a mercenary seductress like you!" Yumi answered her with anger.

"You know, I'm really interested in seeing if you are able to kill. So tell you what, how about I give you a little edge." Ella said as she reached for the zipper at the top of her neck and slowly pulled it down until it was barely holding together just below her bellybutton, revealing a great deal of her large breasts, just borderline of full exposure of the corset like top.

"So what do you think? Beautiful isn't it. Too bad you wont live to grow into a body like mine. Perfect chest, waist, hips, and ass. I can tell you would have that when you grow up. But unfortunately you have to die and never know the pleasures of having an amazing body with someone to love you unless you kill me first." Ella said and grabbed another fan-blade from her waist belt and threw it at Yumi as their battle continued.

()()()()()()()()

Sam hit the floor hard as Panlu came down with her hammer tonfa, but Sam rolled out of the way just in time as Panlu busted another set of floorboards as Sam rolled to her feet and attacked Panlu again wit her blunt and bladed tonfas and even managed to inflict a cut on her right arm.

"Not bad, if you tried a little harder, you could have inflicted a dangerous cut on my arm and rendered it useless." Panlu commented.

"Don't tempt me, I've had about enough of this pointless battle. Let me and my friends go already." Sam demanded.

"Not a chance girl, your either gonna die here unless you kill me, but I'm not going to let that happen either. So just die already so I can get shitfaced." Panlu said as she attacked Sam again with her hammer tonfa. Sam lifted her arms just in time and blocked the heavy weapon with her blade and blunt tonfas and dodged Panlu's arm blade just barely as the weapon nicked the side of her leather top.

Sam then struck back with her weapons, but Panlu knocked Sam's blunt tonfa out of her left hand and Sam then grabbed her other bladed tonfa and now fought with two sharp weapons and continued her battle with the alcoholic Molknuc woman.

()()()()()()()()

Odd and Fer-al fought with such rage against each other. Odd was never the type to get so angry, even when his sisters were at they're meanest towards him and even when he was angry at Aelita for not making a better excuse when he slept in, only to get them both in trouble with Jim and principle Delmas and got detention. Odd had never felt this anger before and didn't even notice the small growls coming from his throat as he swiped and made four small cuts at Fer-al's side.

Fer-al jumped back and touched the four cuts at his right side. "You cut me, you actually managed to cut me. I applaud you, but I'm afraid that is the only cut your gonna get on me unless your willing to take the next step and attack me with all you have. To hunt, to strike, to attack, and most importantly, kill! So Odd, I must ask you, are you prey or... predator?" Fer-al asked as he raised his claw gauntlets.

"I'm neither of those things! I'm not going to let myself be killed like prey, but I'm not going to reduce myself to a predator like you either!" Odd shouted as he lunged at Fer-al with anger. Their claws clashed and Odd pushed against Fer-al's claws with pure rage and baring his feline like teeth which was a lot more pointed teeth like a cat.

Fer-al shoved Odd away and swiped at him and nicked his cheeks and made three small cuts that bleed. Odd growled from the pain as his anger raised. "That's it! That's the anger I felt when I was your age. When I was a child soldier. That is what earned my name as the stalker. So my brother, tap into that anger, draw out your inner instincts and strike me down before I do!" Fer-al said with a small smile as he attacked Odd with his three claw blades and continued their fight.

()()()()()()()()

William hit the large post hard and had the wind knocked out of him but didn't have time to regain himself as he saw Ulsar's blade coming right at him. He ducked just in time as the blade hit the large post, but Ulsar moved and grabbed the other handle and pulled the blade out with ease and swing at William again as William quickly blocked and the two held their large blades against each other, staring with pure anger.

"Your eyes are filled with guilt," Ulsar suddenly said.

"What?" William said surprised.

"Your eyes are filled with guilt, the eyes of someone who has made a grave mistake with someone." Ulsar explained as their blades still stayed crossed.

"You don't know me! You can't have any idea if I did something." William said as the painful memory's began to flood his mind.

"Did you cheat on someone you love?" Ulsar asked.

"Shut-up!" William yelled.

"Did you get someone hurt and didn't take responsibility?" Ulsar questioned.

"Shut-up!" William said as he pushed harder.

"Did you betray your friends after they trusted you with something very important?" Ulsar said, finally getting to the root of it.

"SHUT-UP!" William roared as he finally snapped and attacked with pure rage. Williams swings were wild and out of control. "Shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, shut-up, shut the fuck up!" William yelled over and over as his voice began to break and the painful memory's of being Xana's slave for so long came back to him.

William then knocked Ulsar to the floor and dropped his weapon. William leaped onto his chest, grabbed him by the collar and punched away right in his face. "Shut-up! You don't know me! You don't know what I've been through! I didn't mean to betray them, I didn't mean to hurt them, I didn't mean to-" William yelled in between punches until he let go of Ulsar's collar and lifted himself up with his hands at his head, leaving Ulsar coughing a little.

"I didn't mean to hurt them so much, I didn't mean to cause them so much problems and harm." William said as a few tears fell. "Oh god why, why did they choose me to join them? Why did they trust me? Why was I chosen for this? I'm not worthy of this task." William kept muttering as Uslar slowly got back up.

William managed to break the skin of Ulsar's inner lip and left cheek where he was punching and even knocked a tooth out. Ulsar got back on his feet and spit some blood out as he picked up his blade. "After hearing your painful confession, I wish I could here the whole story of your betrayal. But I'm afraid I still have to kill you." Ulsar said as he attacked William from behind. William quickly grabbed his blade and blocked the blow.

"Like I would ever tell someone like you, a mercenary scum!" William said with anger.

"Well now you have two options, you can die here and be finally at peace with yourself, or you can kill me and live with your torment. The choice is yours boy." Ulsar reasoned as their fight continued.

()()()()()()()()

The control room was ablaze with activity as the small group of people in the room desperately looked for the other members of the gang that fought throughout the fortress. They were like the rest of the enemy warriors but not as strong. Finally one of them found the others but didn't like where they were standing.

The large door to the room was knocked down without effort by Alpha as Z then leaped in and fired away with his new assault shotgun before the others could return fire. Z then loaded another drum as the rest walked into the room which was filled with monitors and a few terminals.

"So what do we do now?" Miodelus asked, scratching his head.

"I'm going to turn off the lockdown and look for the others. They got to be here somewhere, although I fear they may be fighting Gabriel and the other elites that he was talking about." Deotalus said as he began typing away on keyboard near the main monitor.

"What makes you think that they're fighting the five elites?" Jeremie asked from within Alpha.

"Because we haven't seen him since we got separated from the other five, and those grates were planned to block them and only them off from us while we deal with the swarm of this fortress." Deotalus explained.

Alpha walked to another terminal and a cable came out of his right arm and plugged into a port and began to hack away. "Accessing world wide internet. Uploading data." Alpha said as he continued to study the data.

"And I undid the lockdown." Deotalus said with a press of a button as the monitors showed all the grates coming up. "And I also found them. Oh no, they're on the watchtower roofs. They're each separated and fighting one on one with somebody." Deo said with worry as the others looked to see their missing friends.

"There's Gabriel fighting Ulrich, and the others must be fighting the other elites Gabriel was talking about." Jack said, pointing to the elites on the monitors.

"Xana must have wanted them to be killed by someone stronger then them for whatever sick purpose." Leadonus said.

"We need to break into groups, it's the only way to get them all at the same time and get out of here." Z said to the group.

"What do you suggest?" Kairaree asked.

"Leadonus and Miodelus, you go after Odd. Deotalus, Ralfaius get Yumi. Aracane, Knulgen, Jack, you three find William. Bel'la, Eli'ton, Alpha and Jeremie since your still in Alpha, you four go after Sam. As for Kairaree, Aelita and me will get Ulrich. We need to do this quick and fast and take out those elites if necessary." Z said as he went over the plan while pointing them into groups.

"Then in that case guys, have a look of the map on the main screen and then we will break." Deo said as they all looked at the main screen for a few minutes before they broke off into their groups with the ways to their missing friends locations.

()()()()()()()()

The gangs parents watched closely on the screen as their kids fight took a turn for the worst as the elites attacks became more deadly. Ulrich was slammed to the floor while Yumi was kneed right in the stomach which made her cough up some stomach acid. Sam was hit in the chest longways by Panlu's hammer tonfa. Odd was slashed near the neck, making three small cuts before being kicked down. William was knocked over by Ulsar's large blade.

The fight was turning awfully bad as the five began to get desperate. Their bodies ached from the pain that's been inflicted onto them. It's been a long time since the gang has felt pain like this, or at least pain not like before, real world pain, and Sam was simply new to this in general.

()()()()()()()()()

"It's over William, your life is mine. Just accept death." Ulsar said as he raised his sword over Williams head while William was on his hands and knees coughing in pain.

()()()()()()()

Sam was barely standing on her two feet with her blade tonfas still held firmly. "I honestly don't see the point in resisting when you know it's hopeless to fight back. So I'll ask you again, just die, I'm starting to get sober." Panlu said as she attacked Sam again.

()()()()()()()()

Odd was struck in the back hard by Fer-al's metal tail which was like being hit with an aluminum baseball bat as Fer-al then followed up with a kick to the back that sent Odd to the ground. "I knew it, I knew you were prey after all. So just summit like the prey you are." Fer-al said as he raised his claws over Odd who was still trying to get back on his feet.

()()()()()()()

Yumi was lying on the ground in pain as Ella walked over to her and grabbed Yumi by the hair and pulled her up as she gasped from the pain until she was forcibly pulled onto her knees. "I applaud you, your the first person who has held against me for a long time. But like all good things they need to come to an end. So take care beloved and die with honor." Ella said with regret in her voice as she held her blade right at Yumi's heart.

()()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich was slugged in the face by Gabriel's fist and staggered back from the pain. "Damn you," Ulrich simply said as he wiped some of the blood away.

"The only thing sharp about you is your swords. But it doesn't matter anyway, it's not like your going to use them on me, such a waste of elegant weapons you have. Don't worry, I'll give those swords a purpose when I'm done with you." Gabriel said as he moved in for the kill.

Ulrich then gripped the handles of his swords with all his strength as he charged at Gabriel who raised both his swords in defense.

()()()()()()()()()

William moved out of Ulsar's blade just in time as he brought his sword down. William then grabbed his sword and with all his might, ran the tip of his sword into Ulsar's stomach all the way until the blade came out of Ulsar's lower back until he got down to the guard and was leaning on Williams body as William held the blade firmly with blood pouring out all over his hands.

"Is my blade sharp enough now!? It's like you said, the problem with your blade is that yours can't stab." William said with full anger.

"Looks like I was wrong, _cough, cough._ Now there is no turning back, from this and your guilt." Ulsar said as his voice quivered and the color in his face began to fade. "Remember, always keep your blade sharp, I have a feeling you will doing this again many times until... the day... you die..." Was Ulsar's final words as William lost his grip of his sword and Ulsar fell to the floor on his side dead.

William began to shake with horror as the reality began to settle in. He fell to his knees with his bloody hands to his head not even noticing the warm blood as he rocked back and forth from the deed he has committed.

()()()()()()()()

Sam sliced Panlu's right arm so deep that she yelled from the pain and dropped her hammer tonfa as Sam then flipped both her blade tonfas longways and slashed Panlu against the top part of her chest then stabbed her all the way in with the other blade into the center of her chest.

"Damn! That was good... girl. You disarmed me from my heavy weapon and went for the kill. I'm actually... proud of you in a sense... don't ever give your opponent a chance to attack, and drink a shit load of booze. My only regret is that I didn't... ever get to... crack open a imported case I got a while ago." Panlu said and fell back dead as Sam's blade slid out of her chest, dripping with blood.

Sam dropped her blades and backed into one of the post and slid down as she began to cry. "What have I done? What have I done?" Sam muttered to herself.

()()()()()()()()()

Fer-al's lunged with his claws but Odd rolled out of the way as Fer-al whipped the pointed end of his tail at him. Odd growled as he swiped and cut his metal tail in the middle and fell into four pieces. Odd then swiped with both claws into Fer-al's chest, leaving eight fatal cuts that ran down his body. "Looks like your predator after all. Never loose... your instincts." Was all Fer-al simply said as he fell to his knees then fell to the ground face down as blood began to pool around him.

Odd stood there with his arms hanging with the claws still out, dripping with blood. He felt so sick to his stomach, his eyes were deep with remorse and pain as he simply said to himself. "I've... become a murderer. My family will never forgive me for this. I'm not the son my parents love anymore." Odd said as he raised his arms and looked at his gloved hands as tears began to fall.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

As Ella was about to stab Yumi in the chest, Yumi grabbed another one of her fan-blades and opened it halfway as she then flung it at Ella's arm. Ella yelled at the pain and dropped the short sword as Yumi freed herself from Ella's grip on her hair. Ella grabbed two new fan-blades from her back pockets and lunged at Yumi.

Yumi then ran at her as Ella tried to slash at Yumi, but she got right between her arms and stabbed Ella in the chest, just above the sternum. Ella coughed up blood as her arms fell over Yumi's shoulders and dropped both fan-blades. "_Cough, cough!_ You did it love, you managed to kill me. I'm actually glad, now the world can see how beautiful you are as your opponents fall at your beautiful feet." Ella said with a smile as her left hand fell to Yumi's elbow.

Yumi's face changed from anger to horror as she began to realize what she has just done. "Don't feel bad love, I only wish I had a chance to make love to you with that gorgeous body of yours." Ella said as blood still spilled out of her mouth. She then grabbed her elbow and raised her right arm, which was still over Yumi's shoulder, and put her hand near the back of Yumi's head.

"Oh well... at least I'll die happy if I... just have a quick kiss." Ella said with a wicked smile as she then pushed Yumi's head and put her lips to hers in a deep kiss. Yumi fought against the unwanted kiss as the warm taste of copper only made Yumi manage to push her off as her short sword slid out and Ella fell onto her back with a smile of pure bliss and her eyes closed and her life finally ended.

Yumi spit and wiped the blood from her mouth and kept spitting with disgust as tears fell down her face. She felt violated and ashamed at the same time. She had taken a life and even though it was in self defense against a mercenary who was trying to kill her, but to Yumi that still didn't justify it, and all Yumi could do was put her hands to her eyes and cry as she fell to her knees.

()()()()()()()()

Gabriel blocked Ulrich's swords, but as they blocked, Ulrich pushed and threw Gabriel off balance and then slice his swords across Gabriel's chest, the swords ran deep as Ulrich grunted from the feeling of his swords cutting into someone. Gabriel's face was of pure shock and happiness as he was finally bested by someone at such a young age.

"Excellent boy. You've learned my technique. Now use what you learned and never let anything stop you, don't let anyone prevent you from becoming what you are... a stone cold killer... you may not think you are, but I can see it in your eyes. I've awoken your true nature, and soon... everything will become clear to you." Gabriel's parting words were as he fell to the ground dead. The master of the fortress was finally dead.

Ulrich trembled and fell to his knees with his swords in his hands with fresh blood and even felt a streak of blood on his face. "No, no, no. I'm not a killer, I can't be. What do I do now? what do I do?" Ulrich said as his hands finally let go of the blades.

()()()()()()()()()()

The other members of the gang finally found the stairs that lead up to the watchtowers surprisingly and unknowingly at the same time and climbed the many flights and found the others. "Finally! Those stairs were a pain in the ass." Leadonus said as they got to the top of the stairs.

"Look there's Odd, hey Odd are you... oh no." Miodelus said as the two of the four brothers saw Odd standing over the dead body of Fer-al.

Odd was still standing and muttering to himself as the two went over to him. "Odd, Odd? Odd listen to me, we need to go now okay." Leadonus said as he put a hand on his shoulder.

"But I... I... I..." Odd muttered, still in shock.

Leadonus grabbed him by the arms and managed to make his claw blades retract as he began to pull him by the shoulder. "Odd, you did nothing wrong okay. That man was trying to kill you. You have every right to defend yourself from someone like that." Leadonus said as he began to gently pull Odd by the arm.

"I know it's hard right now Odd, but you will pull through this, and we will all help you. Now let's get out of here." Miodelus added as the three began to make their way down the stairs.

()()()()()()()

Aracane, Jack, and Knulgen made it to the top of the stairs where William was. "I win guys! I made it to the top first!" Knulgen boasted as they began to cross the small bridge.

"Knulgen will you get serious! We are here to find William and fight that elite as well." Aracane reminded him.

"I don't think we need to worry about the elite." Jack said as they saw William and the dead elite. The three ran to where he was. "William, we're here to get you all out of here. Let's go, everything's going to be okay. You're alive and that's what matters." Jack said as he began to help William up and lead him. William just followed Jacks lead as he helped him to the door.

"Your not going to say anything smart-ass-like Knulgen?" Aracane asked him as he walked over to where Ulsar was lying.

"Hey man, even I went through the same shit when I made my first kill. But now he's popped his cherry, so now it will just get easier as time goes on. He just needs to get over this. I'm going to help Jack now." Knulgen said with a calm tone as he remembered his first kill from long ago.

"Then I'll get his sword." Aracane replied. He walked over to where Ulsar was and put one boot on his chest and grabbed the handle of Williams sword and pulled the blade out with ease and shake some of the blood off and joined up with the other two and made there way down the stairs.

()()()()()()()()()

Bel'la, Eli'ton, and Alpha with Jeremie still in him made it to the top of the stairs and saw Panlu lying on the floor dead with Sam crying a little. "Sam! My gods, are you okay?" Bel'la asked as she ran over to where she was.

Eli'ton picked up her blunt tonfa and her two bladed tonfas and walked over to where his sister was. "Sam I know what your going through is hard. My sister and I had the same problem like you did. But your strong and you will get through this." Eli'ton said as the two helped her up.

"I've only been reactivated for a short amount of time, but I know that killing for the first time is very difficult on the mind. Especially for someone as young as her." Alpha said as the twins helped Sam walk.

"I can't believe it's come to this. I always feared that we would have to push ourselves, but not to the extent of killing people. And here I am inside you, still having someone fight for me." Jeremie said with disappointment in himself from within Alpha.

"We all have our part to play in this journey Jeremie, but that doesn't mean that it all has to be paved in blood and death, and that doesn't mean your worthless if you don't kill anybody or fight yourself." Alpha replied to Jeremie as Alpha made his way to the stairs and joined the rest.

()()()()()()()()

Deotalus and Ralfaius found Yumi in a sitting position with her head to her knees and her arms wrapped around too. The brothers saw the dead woman. "Yumi, Yumi come on. We need to get out of this place. I know what you just did is hard, but if we don't get out of here, we're all going to be in danger. So let's get out of here and join up with the rest." Ralfaius said. As he helped Yumi to her feet.

Deotalus picked up Yumi's weapons and helped his brother. "No matter what happens Yumi, you're still who you are and nothing can change that." Deo assured. Yumi just muttered to herself as the other two brothers helped her to the stairs and down the levels to join up with the rest.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Z, Kairaree and Aelita finally found Ulrich who was still on his knees with a blank look on his face, one of shame and regret on what he had just done. "Ulrich! We we're so worried about you." Aelita said as she ran to where he was.

Ulrich heard her coming and jumped up and pointed his swords at her. He was in such a deep state shock that it took him a few moments to realize it was Aelita. She looked over and saw the dead man and figured out what he had done.

She gently walked to him and just put her arms around him for comfort. "It's okay Ulrich, I won't look at you any differently. Your still the same kind person who helped me and as well as the others." Aelita said as tears began to form at her eyes.

"Ulrich, killing is never easy, but what matters is that your alive. Because you all are my friends and I don't want to loose any of you." Kairaree added as she put a comforting hand on his shoulder and the two began to lead him and even helped put his swords away.

"Listen Ulrich. In my line of work I've took many lives of all kinds of evil bastards. But my master Markus always told me that it's not how many you kill, it's how you live with yourself." Z simply said as they all headed down the stairs to find and join up with the rest.

()()()()()()()()()

Time just seemed to fly by. The five have been in such a deep state of shock that they barely noticed meeting up with the others. They didn't even really take notice to when they made it out into the front courtyard. Their effects on the fortress and the death of the leaders threw everyone in it in disarray. The enemies either tried to attack the gang in a blind attempt to get revenge, but the gang fought them off without a problem while still leading their five friends who were still numb. They busted through the main doors thanks to Alpha and ran to their truck while Z fired his handguns at any remaining attackers while Alpha even managed to pick up his disguise he threw off earlier.

They finally reached the truck and Alpha released Jeremie while holding cover fire from his gatling-gun lasers while the others loaded up on the truck. Z started up the truck as Kairaree took the passenger seat while Alpha was the last one to load in and they all drive away with a few enemy's shouting at them as the old town and fortress began to fade from their sites. The truck ride was very quiet as Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Sam, and William sat in they're seats still stunned by what they had just done as the blood of their kills began to dry on them.

"So what do we do now Z? Where should we go?" Kairaree asked.

"I'm not sure Kai, but for now we need to get as far away from that place as possible. We still have half power in our truck, but it won't last forever." Z replied to her as he looked at the power meter on the dash.

Alpha walked over to them from his seat and poked his head in between them while standing in the opening of the truck seating area. "Actually I might have a solution." Alpha said to the two.

"Really Alpha? What is it?" Kairaree asked the big bot.

"When I hacked into their control room I managed to upload a satellite GPS systems. I now have access to maps of the world and I found a small mining base a few hours away from here." Alpha said to them.

"Really? That's a great find Alpha. Strange though that there would be a mining base not far from here." Z said to Alpha.

"Well that's the strange thing. Apparently it was an archeology dig site and then some unknown mining guild came in and opened a mine with the archeologist, but since then it seemed to disappear off the map, or more like locked out from normal access but I managed to unlock it with ease and any other information that was erased. But other then that, as far as I can tell there are still people there." Alpha finished telling them.

"Then in that case we will head there and get ourselves organized. And help our friends too." Z said as he glanced over to the five.

"Lead the way Alpha, it's only noon now, we should get there midday." Kairaree said with a smile.

"Affirmative, keep on the path we are going and I will lead you from there." Alpha said as their truck continued down the dirt road path.

()()()()()()()()

Smoketay sat in his seat stunned as the cigar finally burned down to the stub as they all watched the entire gang drive away all alive and accounted for. "Well... that was an unexpected turn of events." Smoketay said as he nervously took out another Cigar and light it.

Xana just stood in the dark behind them hyperventilating with pure anger with only his symbol flaring up between each angry 'breath' like burning coals getting air blown on it. "This failure will not stand. That's it! That is it! No more! This time I am pulling out the worst on them. Where are they heading Ukai?" Xana demanded to the beast.

Ukai began to type on his terminal as the floating screen grew bigger and the screen showed the truck and Ukai then calculated their movement. "From what I can see master, at this rate they should be heading..." Ukai stopped as he feared to tell Xana where they were going.

"Well? Where are they going Ukai?" Xana said, getting impatient.

"At the rate their going, they are heading to Deep Cavern Mining Site, the old archeology site that you had a mining base put up ten years ago Lord Xana." Ukai said as he got ready for Xana's rage.

"What!? Those damn parasites! Not only have they managed to escape death and now they're heading to one of my secret mining sites where my rare materials and minerals are being dug up." Xana yelled as his anger shook the room. "That does it. Now is the time to release my new soldiers onto them. Let them find the mine, I will have them all killed and get rid of those useless miners in the process, I've grown tired of them anyway." Xana said as his tone changed to a more pleased one as his plan began to form.

"But master, we have a convoy heading there to pick up a shipment of your material right now, they will be there within a few hours. Should I call them and have them turn around?" Smoketay asked as he took a puff.

"No. Let them pick up their last shipment. When those fools and the miners are wiped away I'll just have my own workers dig the mines. After they clean up the bodies and blood that is." Xana said.

"But master, your workers only know how to build your machines and equipment, they don't know much about mining. You could loose quiet a lot of them before the mines completely dried out." Smoketay said.

"And that's a concern to me how Smoketay?" Xana asked, not even caring about the loss of workers.

"Understood. Well let's contact that crazy scientist that's in control of Project Swarm Storm." Smoketay said as he opened a video feed on his monitor.

()()()()()()

A human man with dark blond hair and dark blue eyes wearing a common science uniform with a long lab coat sat in a seat in with many computer monitors in front of him. The room he was in was like a large long docking bay with two levels. He was at the top level with the bottom part completely pitch black. One of the monitors turned on and Smoketay's image appeared on the screen.

"Hello Doc. Johnson, my master would like to have a word with you." Smoketay said to the man.

"Yes of course master Smoketay." Johnson said as he put down his drink as the screen changed to Xana's symbol in the dark."Lord Xana, what can I do for you?" Johnson asked, his voice calm yet nervous at the same time, for he knew it was very easy to anger anf offend Xana.

"Resent events have forced my hand to use my secret weapons on a group of enemy's that have been a thorn in my side for far too long. Are the swarms ready?" Xana asked the scientist.

"Mostly they are ready. I'm happy to report that the men have been fully conditioned and their suits have been grafted to their very bodies. Their programs however are still incomplete. They still don't know the difference between enemy's and our other troops, but they will still obey your every word." Johnson explained.

"That can be dealt with later, I just need them to kill my enemies and wipe out a mining base full of people that I have no more use for. How many are there in all?" Xana asked.

"5000 in all, you can give them orders at once my lord." Johnson replied.

"Good, activate them now." Xana ordered. Johnson got up from his seat and bowed before he typed in a few commands. **(A/N: This would be the part where an ominous music would be playing that's also like a military marching tune or something) **

The bottom level began to light up as the level below revealed the prototype swarm soldiers. They were all of Humans, Lizardins, Arachuns, Molknucs, Aquamarins, and Cataranions wearing shinny black armor with metal plating. The helmets were black with blue round lenses and large white lines near the mouths area that was designed to look like jagged teeth in a wicked smile for intimidation. The chest plates were heavy and black with Xana's mark in the center chest with a bright white shine and crimson red near the flexible abdomen and lower back. The species that had tails were covered with simple plating armor. (That's the Lizardins and Cataranions if you can't remember)

The metal boots had three blades near the tip of their feet in the from of claws. On they're backs were cylinder like devices that were their power supply, eliminating the need for food and water and powered their suits and com links for the hubs that guided them. Their arms were armored with sharp points at the elbows with two long blades connected to their forearms.

The blades were long like swords but in the shape of scythes with jagged grooves on the back. The mechanisms on the forearms are designed to allow the handle of the blades to rotate and put into their hands while still connected to the track line and rotate into an upward or downward position and rotate back into the stationary position when not in use.

All 5000 of the swarm troops were in a kneeling position with a number of cables that came from the top of the many powering lines that connected to their cylinder packs over the rows of the conditioned troops. The cables disconnected and the troops began to come online. They all stood up in perfect sync like robots on an assembly line. They all stood in rows of 100 longways and rows of 50 down ways.

A holographic screen popped up above them with Xana's symbol still in the dark. All the swarm troops looked up at them awaiting their orders from they're master. "My swarm warriors, there is a group of fools that need to be eliminated," Xana's booming voice said as a side image showed the entire gang. "There is a mining base a day and a half from here, that is where they are going." Xana continued as the image then changed to the mining area which was a small mountain with some buildings for the miners and various equipment and leveled grounds of different depths.

"Now my warriors, you will march there, you will make the ground quake with each step you take, you will find the fools and kill them all! You will then rip and slash the miners until no one remains. Spare no one, kill them all, down to the last family. But most importantly, you bring the foolish warriors bodies back and bring the pink haired girl Aelita back here alive, but the rest you can kill at your own pleasure." Xana said as the swarms screeched with pleasure.

"Charge my swarm! Charge and let them all know that the horror you will bring down on them. You are my chosen troops for this battle, you are no longer held back by pain, fear, or death, and you no longer know the meaning of retreat. Now Charge!" Xana commanded.

The Swarm screeched with crazed moral from Xana's speech as they began to move. Their blades flipped forward and they then crossed their blades making sparks fly as a way to check the weapon system and as a battle intimidation. The massive metal doors not far from them opened, and without a second more, they all marched out in their perfect line as Johnson leaned over one of the rails with a wicked smile as his cyborg swarm warriors poured out near the bottom of the mountain through the rocky hologram disguise on the west side that Xana's base was in.

The swarm ran into the deep dark woods not letting anything stop them as they ran at a pace of an Olympic athlete without even getting tired. They're destination was more then a day away as all 5000 swarm troops followed their programmed path as the cylinder packs on their backs increased the pleasure centers of their brains for the coming bloodbath, making them only more crazed and frenzied for bloodlust and mass murder.

()()()()()()()()()

Back in Xana's control room. "This has gone on long enough. They will all finally die and Aelita will be mine. All my swarm has to do is exit the forest and march through the canyons until they reach the mines. I'm glad that area is an open plain, those fools and the miners will see them coming for many miles before they reach the mines. They have nowhere to go and they will be hunted down if they try to run as the storm of death and chaos rain down on them. Victory will be mine!" Xana said as his symbol burned brighter with evil joy. As Ukai and Smoketay leaned back a little in their seats as Xana laughed with a maniacal tone.

()()()()()()()

The gang finally saw the mountain with the mining base ahead of them. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Sam, and William had barely said a word through out the trip. The others tried to talk to them every now and then but they barely responded or just stared off. So the others just gave them some space until they reached their destination.

"They still haven't moved or say very much since we left the fortress, this must have been harder on them then we thought." Kairaree said as she glanced over to her friends from her passenger seat.

"From what they have told us back on they're home planet, they've only been taking out digital monsters. But I guess it's not the same when it comes to real people. But eventually their going to have to snap out of it. We're going to have to help them, so once we get at the mines, we'll give them the support they need." Z said to her.

Aracane then came over to where the two sat after overhearing their conversation from his seat. "They have stepped into a new world of their own. The kind of world where it's kill or be killed. I know it's hard on them, we all went through something like that, but they can overcome it, and now we know that they are capable of fighting to survive. I know it seems hard, but they are stronger then they think. But at least now we can have a chance to rest." Aracane said to the two.

"Your right Aracane, we could all use the rest. But at least we won't have to worry about any trouble from Xana for now. Let's get in touch with the leader here and hopefully they will let us stay for a while." Z said to there musclebound friend.

They finally pulled up to the main road that lead to the mines, unaware of the upcoming swarm that was heading their way. The war ahead will be the gangs greatest battle yet, and it will take all of their strength to overcome and save the people of the Deep Cavern Mines.

**END CHAPTER.**


	25. THE COMING SWARM

**CHAPTER 25: THE COMING SWARM**

The gangs parents were shocked. More then half the world either have seen, or is going to hear about it. Their children have each killed someone except Jeremie, but that didn't mean his parents didn't feel concerned about them either. Sam's father leaned further back in his seat as he put his hands to his head.

"My little girl, my little girl has taken a life. All I have ever wanted was for her to stay out of that kind of life considering my time when I was a special ops. Now my only daughter has been forced to kill and there's just no turning back from that." Mr. Knight said as his wife simply hugged him for comfort.

"We still love you Odd, no matter what, your father and I still love you so much and nothing can change that. You did what you had to do to survive." Mrs. Della-Robbia said as if Odd would hear her while her husband gently held her and rubbed her back. Odd's sisters with one of them holding Kiwi sat or stood without saying a word as their only brother who they have picked on a lot, now felt a cold chill of worry, and even guilt for picking on him and couldn't help feel that his anger is partly their fault from picking on him for so long

Williams parents couldn't even say anything as they have both learned of their sons crushing guilt and him killing as well. Jeremie's parents didn't have anything to say either, their son feeling so bad about not able to fight on his own, and his friends now stained with a sin that will be with them for the rest of their lives.

"We better not tell Hiroki about this, at least not right now. I don't think he will be able to handle it." Mrs. Ishiyama said.

"How will we even be able to tell him? How do we tell our son his big sister has killed someone?" Mr. Ishiyama replied.

"All we ever wanted was our son to have a good future. Now no one will even want to be near him now that he has killed." Mr. Stern said.

"Even if this all ends soon, they will never be the same. And now they have a small army heading their way, this can't get any worse." Mrs. Stern added.

"We will keep the media away from you all. Your location is still a secret so at least you won't have reporters banging down your door." The British man known as Agent A said to the parents.

"We'll also beef up security at the school. Although I'm sure a number of students have seen it or are going to see and hear about it. I know this is hard for you all to see your children have to take lives, but you know they have a lot of responsibility's on them and their new friends. So your children are going to need your support when this is over. Be strong for them and they will overcome this." Agent L said to the parents.

"Taking lives in order to save others just comes with the job. In our line of work and your children as well now. So for now, hope for them and they will survive." Agent A added as they continued to watch.

()()()()()()()()

At Kadic Academy a great deal of the students have seen their fellow students kill. Milly and Tamiya were speechless while Emily was stunned, and even Sissi couldn't say anything. They always knew the gang was a little strange, so it was no surprise that they're minds we're blown when the world found out about the dangers the gang was in and how much they risked themselves to save Earth. And now here they are on a new planet and have just been forced to kill. They could only hope they will overcome this and move on.

()()()()()()()()()

Z slowly pulled their truck up to the mine. The place was very large for a mine, there were a number of buildings for many purposes. A lot of the building were living spaces while there were two that were the mess halls and several workshops and repair bays that made the place look like a very small town all right in front of the small mountain that had a massive hole for the materials to come out, and many construction vehicles from bulldozers to cranes and excavators all over the place.

The area had a number of square shaped holes that seemed to resemble archeology sites on the outer parts of the makeshift 'town' that the gangs truck pulled into. Some of the people there looked both confused and surprised to see the gangs truck pull in as Z came to a stop in the middle of the place. The miners were dressed like you would expect a miner to be dressed. They're pants were thick and padded with heavy boots, long sleeved dark colored tops with small shoulder pads, and some even wore helmets with lights.

"Is it me, or do these people seem to be surprised to see us?" Deotalus said as he looked out the small window from his seat.

"Maybe they just don't get much visitors." Ralfaius said to his brother.

"Either way guys, we need to be on our guard. From the looks of this place, they might not like uninvited guests." Z said as he noticed a Human man come walking up to his window. Z rolled down the window with his right hand on the handle of his handgun that was slowly pulled from it's holster.

The Human man was a little past middle aged, and looked very well traveled and almost looked like an old fashion explorer. His skin was tanned from being in the sun for a long time in his life. His eyes where a bright blue and his hair was very dull brown with a few streaks of gray, and he had a few wrinkles and a monocle in his front shirt pocket and even the cliché explorer hat.

"Hello there sir, sorry if we are intruding on this property, my name is Z, and who might you be?" Z asked the man.

"Well your not really intruding, and my name is Allan Charles Hammercut The IV. And if I may ask, what is it that you are doing here? We are expecting a convoy within a few hours, but not yours." Allan said to Z.

"We just need to get some power in our truck and clean up. We had a little incident awhile ago and we would really appreciate it if you let us have some time here. Is there a place we can pull up to?" Z explained to the man.

Allan thought to himself for a few seconds. "Well... all right. Follow me, there's a small storage building that your truck can pull in and get you what you all need. Just follow me." Allan said to Z. The explorer Allan lead their truck around the corner and down a few blocks until they pulled up to an old building with a large garage door. Allan opened it and guided them in, the inside was a little beaten up but was livable. It had a concrete floor with some various equipment all over the place and even a few cots and tables and a recharging cable for the truck.

"Well this is the place. It's not exactly a luxury hotel, but I feel that living it rough really adds character. Now that you all are in, I'll go to the head miners and tell them about you all here and I'll come back in a few." Allan said to Z and to some of the others that got out.

"We really appreciate it and your generosity. Is there a shower or sink or even a washing machine that we can use?" kairaree asked Allan.

"Yes there is. Just around the corner of this building. A lot of repair workers practically lived here every now and then, so use it as you see fit. Now take care and I will be back soon." Allan said to her and pointed in the direction of the forge outside.

"Also sir, is there a grindstone or whetstone station we can you. There's some weapons that need to be sharpened." Aracane asked as well.

"There's actually a forge right next door from here. You could make weapons from scratch if you wanted, so yes it also has a whetstone and grindstone station as well. Nobody really uses it anymore so no one will try to stop you." Allan replied as he left the building.

The rest of the gang got out of the truck except for Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, William, and Sam who were still sitting in they're seats. Z, Aracane, Kairaree, and Leadonus walked back into the truck. "Guys, you can't just sit in here all day. You have to get cleaned up and rest a little." Lea said to the five, but they just still sat there.

"Listen, you did what you had to do to survive. Now please get up and clean yourselves off. There's a sink and a washer you can all use." Kairaree added.

Finally the five sighed and got up from thier seats and left the truck without even bringing their weapons, even Odd silently took off his claws and bow seat. The five headed to the many separate sinks to finally clean off the blood splatter that was on they're faces and clothes. "Do you think their going to be okay? Killing is way harder on them then we thought." Leadonus said.

"We just need to give them time. It's different for everyone, even if their fighters." Aracane added as he took a seat on the couch.

Aelita sat down in a chair near a table and Jeremie then took a seat with her. "What's wrong Aelita? You look really upset." Jeremie asked her.

"It's all my fault, it's because of me that they were forced to kill." Aelita said to him.

"What? What do you mean it's your fault? You had nothing to do with it." Jeremie said surprised.

"Don't you get Jeremie? It's because of me that Xana is after us all the time, all I ever do is get people hurt. I had you all risk your lives just to save me, and then we get sent to this planet only to have more people drawn into our fight. And now some of my best friends have been forced to kill because Xana hired those people to try and kill them, so you see? All I am is trouble." Aelita said on the verge of crying.

"No Aelita, no! This is not happening because of you. Xana is a monster and will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Your just as much of a victim like the others and the people around this world. Xana only hates you and us because we stood up to him, that's how bastards like him are and are easily threatened when others stand against him. And that's what we'll do until he is gone for good." Jeremie said with Aelita taken aback from Jeremie's swear.

"Your right Jeremie, we will stop Xana. And we will help our friends get over this as well. I just wish I can help take that burden off of them. Nobody should have to kill no matter what the reasons are." Aelita replied as Jeremie put his hand over hers for comfort. That's what Jeremie always liked about her, she always looked at things with purity and hoped for the best no matter how bad it gets for them.

()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich finished washing his face and the blood off the top part of his clothes. The thought of his first kill still fresh in his mind as he put his hands on the edges of the sink with some water still dripping from his face and hair. He sighed deeply before he looked into the mirror and saw Gabriel staring at him covered in his own blood. Ulrich leaped back and slammed against the wall and slid down panting. He looked up and the image of Gabriel was gone with only Ulrich staring at himself in the mirror. Ulrich just simply sighed and got back up to join the others.

The others have just gotten done cleaning up and came back into the main garage room. Z was plugging the cable into the trucks battery port on the side of the truck where a gas hole would usually be. Everyone else was either stretching or just sitting down in various chairs and couches. Ulrich took a seat next to Yumi on the couch she was sitting on. He glanced over to her and noticed she was just as shook up as he was, maybe she was seeing things too.

They then noticed that Aracane and Leadonus were missing. "Where's Aracane and Lea? Where did they go?" Ulrich asked, finally speaking.

"They will be back in a few minutes. They needed to do something." Z replied to them as he locked the charging cable into the truck. Just then the door to the garage opened and Aracane walked back into the room. "Are we ready?" Z asked him.

"Yeah, lets go." Aracane said to Z. "Ulrich, William, Yumi, Sam, Odd," He called out to them. The five turned to him with curious looks on their face.

"What do you want with us?" Yumi said.

"Follow me, and grab your weapons. You'll all understand once we get there." Aracane said as he left the building. The five just decided to go with it as they reluctantly grabbed they're weapons and left the building with Z, Kairaree, Jack, and even Knulgen as they followed them to the forge building right next door.

Inside the building Leadonus had the place working again, there was a large rectangle shaped tub filled with water and a few whetstone stands near. "Give us your weapons guys, they need to be sharpened." Aracane said as he held out his hand.

The five looked at each other for a moment but then gave them their weapons. Aracane took Williams butcher sword, Z took Ulrich's dual sabers, Kairaree took all eight of Yumi's fan-blades and short sword, Leadonus took Odd's claw blades and Knulgen took Sam's bladed tonfas. They went to the whetstones and Aracane took Williams sword and dipped the blade in the water as the blood began to wash off the blade. Z dipped Ulrich's blades and sheaths in the water and the dried blood also seeped off the blades and out from the inside of the sheaths. The others did the same as well with their other friends weapons.

Odd glanced over to the tub and saw Fer-al in the water staring at him with a cold but blank look on his face. Odd winced but thankfully no one noticed and Odd looked over again and Fer-al was gone and the others began to work on their weapons.

After they finished washing the weapons in the cleaning water, they then began to sharpen the blades. Aracane ran Williams blade over the large whetstone while Z began to sharpen Ulrich's sabers. Kairaree sharpened Yumi's fan-blades one by one with Jack helping while Leadonus took Odd's claw blades apart from it's gauntlets and began to sharpen the eight claws. Knulgen worked on Sam's without even arguing. The five just sat down near the forging station and waited for awhile.

As Aracane sharpened Williams sword, he looked up to them. "A wise Spardarac general once said that the weapon is like the wielders body, soul, and mind. It can be chipped, it can be cracked, it can be even broken and stained with blood. But just like the body and soul, when it's chipped it can it can be sharpened. When it's cracked it can be filled. When it's broken it can be mended. And when it's even stained with blood, both the body and soul can be cleaned. And just like your mind, the weapon can be enlightened and learn from experience." Aracane said as he was just about finished with Williams sword.

"What Aracane means is that it's natural on the way you all react when you killed those mercenaries is a good thing." Z said as he worked on Ulrich's other sword. The others looked at him with curiosity to his strange words. "I mean it's natural for good people to feel remorse and regret when they kill someone for the first time in their life. If you enjoy killing people, then your just no better then those people that tried to kill you, but you all had every right to kill them before they killed you." Z finished saying.

"Just remember guys, it will get easier from here on out... kinda like sex too." Knulgen said with the last part a little under his breath as he finished Sam's bladed tonfas.

"What Knulgen means," Kairaree said as she glanced over to Knulgen. "That now you know you will have to kill again in order to survive. But just know we will help you along the way like you would with us." Kairaree said as she finally got to Yumi's short sword.

"I felt the same way you all did when I made my first kill back in the caverns of my castle, even though Bishop prepared me to deal with the burden of killing, it was still overwhelming to end a life for the first time even if it was a wicked persons life, and I've killed again several times and most likely more again. But don't forget what you fight for. You fight for whats right and those you all care for." Jack added as he finished with Yumi's last fan-blade.

"Well we're finished with your weapons now, there clean and sharp now, just like you all are. We won't force any of you to kill again, each kill is a life long choice and the weight of the burden to carry as well. Just remember that strength to overcome this and push on comes from within." Leadonus finished for them as they handed them their weapons.

The five reflected on what their Earthera friends said as they slowly took they're weapons back and reattached and strapped their weapons back on their waists and backs. "So are we going to be leaving soon." Sam asked.

"I think we will try to stay here for the night and rest, I doubt that truck is very comfortable to sleep in anyway." Z said to them.

The doors to the forge opened and the archeologist Allan walked into the forge building. "Ah, sharpening your weapons I see. A warriors weapons is their most important tool. Of course my weapon is actual archeology tools." Allan joked.

"So you're an archeologist? What are you doing at this mine anyway?" Z asked the man.

Allan cringed at Z's question and thought of a reply. "Well I've been at this dig-site for over ten years now looking for fossils from millions of years ago." He said to them.

"Is it hard to work on your sites with these miners around digging in the same area?" Kairaree asked.

"Not really, they dig in the mine and I work in the fields." Allan replied.

"What kind of stuff are they mining here anyway. This mine is very far from any refinery's or other places to process materials." Z continued to ask the man as he got more suspicious of this place.

Allan seemed to look more concerned about his constant questioning. "To be honest I really don't know, just some really important material for a very important company. Anyway is there anything else I can do for you?" Allan said to change the subject.

"If you wouldn't mind, we would like it if we could stay here for the night and think of where we need to go once we get back on the road. We'll stay in the garage if you want." Aracane asked Allen.

"Hmm, I suppose it will be okay, just stay in this area, we have a pickup convoy coming our way soon and they... really don't like sudden visitors. Now if you'll excuse me. I need to help with final preparations for the convoy." Allan said as he left the room.

Everyone began to get suspicious of the way Allan was acting and headed back to the garage to tell the others. As everyone left the forge, William looked at his now sharpened weapon and brought the blade up near his face to see his reflection but only to see Ulsar looking at him. William gasped and almost dropped his blade and looked again only to see his face before joining up with the group.

When they got back inside, they told the others about Allan and the mine and the strange convoy coming. "I don't know about you guys, but I think we should look into it. Who knows what those people are and what they are taking. It could be dangerous material." Eli'ton said to them.

"He's right, I noticed this place had a number of family's from parents, kids and even baby's only a few months old. Who starts a family out here?" Bel'la added for her brother.

"Yeah and the same thing with Allan being here for over ten years. There can't be that much fossils out here to begin with." Deotalus added as well.

"This places location was strange from the beginning. I suggest we observe from a distance and assess the situation and determine what we should do depending on the nature of the people of the convoy." Alpha said as he put on his disguise.

"When do you guys think that the convoys are going to get here anyway?" Miodelus asked. Just then the sound of a loud whistle was heard. "Oh! That must be the lunch bell." Mio said which made the others groan.

"No Mio, that must be the convoy on the way. Let's head out there but stay in the very back of the crowds and buildings." Ralfaius said.

Everyone left the building and followed the same path they drove through but on foot instead and noticed that as they got further down the road, the crowds got thicker and they all got closer to keep track of themselves. As Bel'la said back in the garage, there were a number of people huddled together in family groups with even new born baby's.

"This must be a private family owned mining guild, but even most family's go back to they're towns or city's when they have a child. It's just too much work to handle a baby and work in the mines in shifts." Z whispered to the others as they took a position behind some miners.

They then noticed that twenty forklifts with large metal gray crates on the forks and then a long construction truck pulling a long flatbed trailer with many stacks of crates like the ones on the forklifts and then a bunch of people then came walking in with crate carriers that had smaller crates. "What in the hell are these people delivering?" Aracane whispered to them.

As the crates were finally placed in the center of the so called town, six massive trucks with large fronts with big wheels almost five feet high with six big wheels in the back, and the beds of the trucks were very large and armored with a roll down ramp on each truck.

The gang blended in with the crowd as the men got out of the large trucks. Each of the six trucks had four black armored men with small guns. One of them in the lead truck got out and what he had on his chest made the gang realize who they were with. The man had Xana's mark on the chest of his armor and defiantly projected he was in charge and he had a larger assault rifle. The man was a Molknuc and had nasty grin on his face.

"Well, this looks like a small hull. You all aren't holding back on us are you?" The leader asked as he looked at the crates.

"N-no, it's all we could gather for the month. We need better equipment to dig further." Allan said to the leader who still looked over the crates.

"Hmmmm, I don't know. I still think you filthy miners are holding back." The leader said as he jokingly pointed his rifle at Allan and some of the other lead miners who were standing with him.

"We swear, who else would we give this stuff to?" Allan replied.

"All right fine, I've had my fun. Get these crates loaded before I get sick for being here for too fucking long." The leader said as the miners began to load the trucks.

"I can't believe this. There's so few of them, but these miners won't even stand up to them." Kairaree whispered to her friends.

"They must have done something horrific to them long ago. These people use fear and intimidation against people who don't have combat experience, so miners and other workers like them are easy targets." Z whispered to them. He was already formulating a plan to take them out.

Alpha looked over to the leader of the convoy that was standing near the lead truck and noticed that another troop walked up to him and began to whisper to their leader. Alpha then altered his hearing range to focus in on their conversation. "Sir we need to hurry. We've been alerted by command that there's an attack coming here to wipe out these miners and Xana's enemies when they get here." The troop said to his leader.

"Relax you idiot, the swarm won't be here until the day after tomorrow. We got plenty of time to load this stuff and get out of here. I'm just glad we won't have to deal with these miners anymore." The leader said to the troop that he was whispering to.

Alpha's eyes turned red and even glowed through the eye-holes of his mask. "Alpha? Is there something wrong?" Jeremie asked. But Alpha didn't say anything and started walking towards the Xana troops.

"What is he up to?! Did he blew a fuse?" Odd asked, knowing that Alpha will blow their cover.

Alpha marched though the crowds while avoid hurting them. Alpha finally broke through the crowds and towards the troops. One of the troops saw him and began to walk up to Alpha "Hey asshole! What the fuck you think your doing? Get your robed ass back in the crowd before I shoot your-" The troop didn't finish as Alpha grabbed him by the face of his helmeted head and picked him up with ease. The crowd gasped as the troop screamed and struggled against his grip in vain as Alpha slammed the man head first into one of the larger crates, killing the man with ease and even made a huge dent in the crate.

"I don't know what that bot is doing, but he must have a good reason. Let's move before those bastards open fire on the crowd." Z said as the gang began to push through the crowds.

"He's dead! You killed him you bastard!" Another troop yelled and raised his rifle at Alpha's head. Alpha didn't even turn as he grabbed the barrel of the mans rifle and bent it with ease. "What the fuck are you?!" The troop said freaking out. Alpha then took off his mask-rope and grabbed the man and picked him up and threw him into the air. The troop practically flew as he hit the roof of the lead truck then slid and fell off the other side of the truck.

"It's a robot! Oh shit! They're here! They got here before us!" The leader said as he looked around the crowd for the others. Just then a dagger flew into the neck of the troop that was standing next to him fall against the truck and slid down dead.

The other troops and the leader huddled up near the lead truck with their weapons pointing at Alpha. The miners panicked and ran away, leaving the gang and the twenty-one remaining troops. "Dammit! Your all here. I was hoping we would have been gone before you got here." The leader said pissed.

"Alpha, why did you suddenly attack these bastards? We needed to form a plan." Aracane said as he grabbed his ax.

"I focused my audio receptors on their conversation. They are loading these crates as fast as they can because there is an attack coming this way sent by Xana, something called a swarm to kill us and wipe out the miners in the process." Alpha answered his friends.

"All right pal answer us. What is this swarm your talking about? What is it!?" Knulgen demanded while pointing his sword in their direction.

The leader chuckled at his demands. "Sorry kids and robot... I guess. But you see, I like surprises and so should you all, so why don't you all just wait until the day after tomorrow for the swarm, or... you all can just leave and save yourselves. I mean they're just miners, there's millions of them, who would miss one little shanty town full of them?" The leader said to them in a daring tone for them to leave the miners.

"Not a chance you motherfucker, we'll stay and help these miners against this swarm, but you guys aren't leaving here alive." Eli'ton threatened as his helmets visor slid to cover his face.

"You think you got balls boy?! Well let's see how large you all got. Men! Shoot them to pieces!" The leader shouted as all twenty of them aimed their guns at the group.

"Alpha if you would kindly." Deotalus said.

Alpha nodded and raised his arms and his hands converted to his laser guns and opened fire on the enemy troops until the leader was the only one alive in the middle of his fallen troops.

"Great shot Alpha, thanks to you, we have avoided any of the miners getting hurt." Deotalus praised their robot friend.

"So what do we do with this guy now?" Miodelus asked, pointing to the cowering leader.

"We can't just let him go. This guy has harassed these people for a long time. I say we interrogate him and get some more info out of him." Ralfaius said with a smile.

"Well good luck with that you bastards!" The leader shouted as he pulled out a handgun and aimed at them, but Z quick-shot the gun out of the mans hand and screamed in pain as he dropped his weapon.

"That's it. I'll get the answers out of him." Aracane said as he stomped over to the man. He grabbed the leader by the shoulders and slammed him against the side of the lead truck. "Talk! What is this swarm? Where are they coming from?" Aracane demanded as he slammed him again.

"Fuck you meat-head!" The leader said which made Aracane only slam him against the truck again. The gang cringed a little from his aggressive method and some of the miners began to come back.

"I said talk! What is this swarm? Why are they coming here the day after tomorrow? How many are there?" Aracane shouted as he turned the man around and slammed his head through the driver-side window and then against the truck again.

The man coughed and chuckled a little. "Oh why not, fine kid you twisted my arm. Lord Xana has sent his new swarm troops this way. He's grown tired of the people of this mine and since your all here, he will be killing two birds with one stone, or at least eighteen punk-ass fuck-tard kids and a robot and less then a thousand filthy miner." The leader said with a smile.

"How many are there? And you better answer honestly." Aracane said as he tightened his grip on his armor vest.

"From what command said to us on the way here to this dump, about five-thousand of them, and all ready for the slaughter. How I wish I could watch those things kill you all, every man, every woman, and every child. And the best part is there is nowhere you all can run. The nearest towns and cities are days away and there's not enough vehicles to get them all out of here in time. So let the bloodbath commence and wipe this planet of these filthy miner for good!" The leader laughed.

Aracane had enough of the man and picked him and began to slam him against the truck over and over like a ragdoll as the leader painfully grunted from each slam until he began to dent the truck while Aelita turned away from the brutal killing. Aracane slammed the man so hard that the sound of bones breaking was heard by all and Aracane slammed him again and let go of the Molknuc leader and his dead body fell to the ground and his open faced helmet fell off.

"Serves him right, people like him deserve to die." Aracane said as he walked back to his group. Sam looked over at the dead leader but instead saw Panlu lying there. Sam gasped at seeing Panlu's body as her eyes rolled up and stared at Sam with anger. Sam closed her eyes and shook her head then looked again only to see the dead leader instead thankfully.

The miners began to slowly make their way towards the gang. The people were both happy for the gang liberating their mine. Some of the people shook they're hands and patted some of them on the back. Even a few of the kids approached Alpha with joy for seeing a robot. One of the kids even raised his arms for Alpha to pick him up.

Alpha tilted his head in curiosity at the little child's gesture. "He wants you to pick him Al. Do it for the kid, they'll love it." Aelita whispered.

Alpha looked down at the kid who was now jumping on his little feet. Al then lowered himself and gently picked the kid up by the sides under his arms until he was at face level with Alpha. The kid laughed and giggled and even touched Alpha's face. Some of the people awed at Alpha's gesture even though the robot still didn't fully get what was so special about he was doing, but decided to let it continue so as not to upset the already on edge people.

Allan walked up to the gang with a big smile. "Well not that we're not grateful for you all finally freeing us from this mining enslavement, but now things seem to be worse then they already are." Allan said to them.

"If it's any consultation, we didn't mean for this to happen. Trouble seems to have a nasty habit of following us where ever we go." Leadonus said to him.

"Follow me to my office, you can tell me and some of the other head miners about what is going on, and then we can come up with a plan on what to do." Allan said as he lead the group while the miners began to move the bodies and drive the convoy trucks away. Allan's office was near one of the dig sites. There was a few other archeologists casually digging. Allan's office was a well built trailer office and living area which served as his home for the last decade.

Allan opened the door to his office to only have three dogs come barking out. One was small and black and shaggy, the other was a little bigger and light gray and almost hairless, the other one was bigger then the rest with brown fur and drooled a lot. "All right boy's, calm down, we have visitors." Allan said to the dogs which continued to bark and then ran over to the gang. Odd began to pet them with joy and finally smiling since he missed Kiwi so much.

Finally they got into Allan's large trailer and there were four other head miners sitting down. Allan then made his way to his desk which had a number of papers and archeology stuff. "So tell me everything, or at least what you feel you should tell me." Allen asked the group.

The gang simply told Allan and the head miners that they have been fighting Xana for some time, but left out the parts where the Earth born members came from a different planet and that a being from another realm came to them and told that they were chosen by fate to destroy Xana for good.

Finally they were done and Allan thought over what they said. "That's quite a story you have, so young and yet your going against a madman. I wish we had your courage when they came here ten years ago." Allan said to them.

"If you don't mind us asking, what happened here? Why didn't you guys try calling for help? What do they have you all digging here?" Z questioned the archeologist.

Allan reached down into his desk and pulled out a small container and put it on the desk and open the container and pulled out a rock that was a very dark purple and black color, yet seemed to have a glow to it. "This is a very rare material called Eneranium. Just a few pounds could be worth thousands since it's still being tested by researchers for the last forty years since it was discovered." Allan began to explain.

"I've heard of this stuff. They say it gives off a very strange energy signature when it's run through with a electrical current." Z said, looking at the rock.

"Same here, some magic scholars even think there could be something magical to it, but since the stuff is so hard to find, they could only experiment whenever they get their hands on it." Jack added.

"Well whatever this stuff is, that cruel man or whatever Xana is, his men came here ten years ago. The mine was already built when I arrived and after a week or so I found this rock and showed it to the head miners. They thought it was something worth value, but then the next day, trucks full of strange troops in black armor and some with Xana's mark on their armor practically took the place over in minutes. Nobody was killed, they said they needed all of us to work." Allan went on as he looked out the window of his trailer.

"I'm guessing they threatened you to work the mines and cut off all access to the outside world." Ulrich said to Allan.

"The deal was simple, we work the mines until it was completely empty and no one would be killed. So they cut off all communications and phone-lines and internet, but thankfully let us keep television or we would have gone crazy. They took our weapons, gave us better mining equipment and bring us whatever supplies we need when we order for it. But now it's obvious that they tended to do away with us, but then again a lot of us began to realize that was what was going to happen anyway." Allan said as he realized the grim reality.

"And the worst part is, I won't even get a chance to say goodbye to my son Allan The V. My son got married, and when him and his wonderful wife went on their honeymoon, I came to this site and was going to invite them here when they were done with their honeymoon since my son is happily in the same field as I am." Allan chuckled a little as he looked at a desk photo of his son and his wife in their wedding clothes. His son basically looked like a younger version of himself.

"They wouldn't even let you contact your son. I can't believe they would be that cruel." Kairaree said with anger rising in her voice.

"Well at least they didn't have to waste so many years being prisoners, I'm grateful for that. Better they think I'm dead then to be slaughtered here." Allan said as he put the rock and container away.

"We won't let that happen! We will fight them one way or another. We didn't mean to bring this swarm on you all, but we will stop it." Leadonus practically shouted.

Allan adjusted himself in the chair. "We appreciate your offer to help, but we don't even know what is coming after us. What we need to do is-" Allen didn't finish what he was going to say as the door to his office was slammed open.

"Sirs! Sorry to interrupt you all, but you need to see this now!" A miner said to them. Everyone wasted no time and ran out the door. They ran to the edge of the dig-site that was at the edge of a small cliff that wasn't steep and it stretched out for miles and miles in a canyon that went up forty feet with various widths through out the stretch of the canyon.

Allan took out a high powered binoculars from his pack and looked. In the far distance he saw the swarm troops storming their way with Xana's mark on the center of their armored chests. "My goodness, that sure is a lot of them." Allan said as he handed his binoculars to the others.

"I have already scoped them, they are moving at a steady speed. I've calculated that if they keep this speed, they will arrive on the day after tomorrow like that man said. They will reach the opening of the canyon on the other side by 8:00 in the morning." Alpha said as he focused his optic vision on the swarm. Everyone could see the large dust-cloud the swarm was creating in the very far distance.

One by one the gang looked through the binoculars to see the coming swarm that was heading their way. Yumi was the last to look as she looked at the swarm as well. She then lowered the binoculars and saw Ella standing on the edge of the canyon not far from her. Ella slowly licked her lips and winked at Yumi as she slowly rubbed her body. Yumi closed her eyes to shake her vision away until Ulrich shook her shoulder.

"Yumi, are you okay? We need to head back to the town and go over what we're going to do." Ulrich said to her. Yumi nodded and they all headed back to the town. In the town the people were already beginning to panic. Some tried to get themselves packed and some were just arguing on what to do. Some even blamed the gang that they brought this problem on the miners.

Allan and some more of the head miners got in the center of the crowd and tried to calm the people. "Friends please, this won't solve anything. We've known for a long time that those people were most likely not going to let us live when we were done with the mines. This is not the newcomers fault." Allan reasoned to them.

"Maybe so, but that still doesn't mean that they didn't have anything to do with that army heading our way." A man called out. "We have kids here, new born babies that haven't even been outside of this mining area. We can't just have them die here." A Woman added. "We need to try to get out of here. There's no chance in hell we will be able to fight them." Another miner shouted. "We don't have enough vehicles to transport everyone!" Someone else called out.

The miners then began to argue amongst themselves and even pointed fingers at the gang while Allan tried to calm them down. As the miners continued argue with each other, Ulrich grabbed the handle of one of his swords and gently pulled the blade out and looked at it. He stared at the blade and looked closer at his reflection. After a few seconds Ulrich gripped the blade harder and then put the weapon back in it's sheath and walked in front of the crowd.

"We will fight them!" Ulrich said out-loud which made the crowd stop fighting. "We will fight them, and we will stop each and everyone of them."

"Ulrich, if you really mean that, then that means you will have to-" Aracane said before Ulrich continued.

"I know Aracane, we all know. But this is our fight against Xana. I know what we will have to do. But I'm not just going to stand by as innocent people get killed because Xana can't fight his own battles. That's why we will do whatever it takes to stop them." Ulrich said. The other four also walked near him.

"I'm with you Ulrich." William said.

"Same here, Xana's not going to get away with this." Odd said as he patted Ulrich on the back.

"I can't let you guys have all the fun, I'm with you as well." Sam added.

"I will do whatever it takes to save these people. So let's do it." Yumi said as she joined in with the rest.

Aelita was glad that her friends were back to normal and ready to help those in need.

"I'm glad you guys have your fighting spirits back. But putting on a brave face won't stop this swarm coming, we need a plan." Z said to them.

"We can't fight that many on our own. We need a way to thin out their numbers until we can handle them ourselves." Deotalus said to them.

Jeremie stood in a thinking position and then came up with an idea. "Hey Allan, does this place have some detailed charts of the area, something we can look over?" Jeremie asked.

"Why yes there is. The charts are in the main office, I'll show you." Allan said as he lead them to the main mining office.

"I think I know what your up to Jer, and if it's what I think, I'm already liking it." Knulgen said as they followed Allan.

The gang followed Allan into the main office and he then began to search the charts until he found a massive chart with details of the entire area that went on for miles. "Well this is it. This chart shows the mountain, the town, the dig sites, the forests, and finally the canyon. This chart is very accurate so whatever your planning, you can have it written down with very accurate details." Allan said as he unrolled the chart onto the large table.

"This canyon goes on for a couple miles and has plenty of room to maneuver around here and there." Eli'ton said as they all looked over the chart.

"So I guess the idea is to set up traps to take out as much as we can before having to fight them." Bel'la added for her brother.

"I'll leave it to you all and get the miners back on your side. If you all are planning traps, we're going to need everyone here on board, we got more materials and equipment then we know what to do with. I'll come back later with dinner for you all as well." Allan said as he left the office.

"So how are we going to do this? There's so many possibilities." Ralfaius said to them.

Jeremie, Z, Leadonus, Deotalus, Alpha, and Ulrich picked up pens and began to form a plan. "Well for starters we need to keep them in once they all get past the canyon opening, so I was thinking-" Jeremie said as they began to draw on the large chart. Two hours passed as the gang went over the chart on their plan. They each had an idea or two and even had dinner brought in. the planning went on without a problem except for Aracane and Knulgen who almost got into a fight over an idea. Finally they were done and headed back outside to go over the plan.

Outside the miners stood around and went on with they're business to keep their mines off the attack that was coming their way. Most of them have already sent they're kids to bed even though they had to lie in order to calm them down. The gang headed to the center of the town and got everyone's attention.

Jeremie decided to speak first. "Excuse me everyone." He called out which made the miners all look at them. The night had mostly come in, so Allan set up a few spotlights for everyone to see them and the chart they will open. "I just want to say that we didn't mean to bring this attack on you by Xana, but we will do what it takes to stop them. Guys if you would." Jeremie said as Ulrich and William opened the large chart and showed all the miners.

"We have used this chart to come up with a number of traps to thin out the numbers of this swarm coming here. For starters near the opening of the canyon, we will have a six foot trench filled with tall spikes to impale them for starters, then have some explosives go off behind them at the top of the canyons and cause a rockslide so we can keep them trapped in the canyon so they can't retreat and have no choice but to keep going forward into more of our traps." Z began to go over the traps.

"We then will have a small landmine field for them, but we will have to have them remotely detonated so we can get in and out without having to worry about our own safety. After the fields we will have a few sections at the top of the canyons filled with large boulders to roll down on them. Then we will have some of your vehicles set up for various uses, but we will go over that later." Deotalus said, taking a turn.

"In the middle of the canyon has a number of rock pillars all over the place, we could have the lower parts chipped away until the pillars are barely able to stand on their own. We will put support bars and tie ropes in the middle to pull the bars out one by one and have the pillars collapse on the swarm. We also have a few traps that involve shooting flames at them. In other words flamethrower traps to burn them out." Aracane said to the crowd.

The miners began to become filled with hope. They knew they had more equipment then they knew what to do with. They also knew if they pulled together they could do it all in less then a day. "We know how cruel and evil Xana can be, we have fought with him for a long time. But I promise you all, we will not abandon you and leave you to die by that monster and his army of cowards heading this way just to kill you all. We will fight, and we will win no matter what!" Yumi said to the crowd. She pulled her short blade out and raised it high.

The miners cheered and applaud the gang and their plan. The gang now had they're full trust and support of their plan and couldn't wait. Allan and a few of the head miners then walked up beside the gang.

"We can do this people, we have the skills to do this and stop this swarm. Let's send a message to Xana that we will no longer be held slaves here no longer. Now let's call it a night and start first thing in the morning before daybreak and be done by nightfall. Our new friends will be victorious." Allan said as the miners cheered some more.

"Well guy's, let's call it a night so we can get an early start too. I have a feeling these miners can't wait to get started in the morning." William said as they rolled up the chart.

"Will's right, we're going to need all our strength. We will break into groups and help with each trap location. We're going to have our work cut out, but we have all pulled off the impossible before, so we can do this." Aelita said with a smile to the group.

The gang agreed and they all went back the garage as the miners also went back to their homes and living quarters with great feelings of hope after so many years of being held against their will, forced to dig these awful mines for Xana's strange material. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for the gang and the miners working on the traps for the coming swarm. Everything needed to be done perfectly so they could greatly thin out the numbers before the gang had to fight the swarm head on. The five members that have been forced to kill earlier that day will now have to kill five-thousand enemy troops to save innocent people. The odds are already against them even if they do cut they're forces down by a lot, but they knew that they were the miners only hope for survival and freedom.

**END CHAPTER.**


	26. PREPARE FOR WAR

**CHAPTER 26: PREPARE FOR WAR**

DAY 17

It was 6:00 in the morning when the whistle blew, this time the whistle will signal the start of their freedom. The gang wasted no time getting up in their garage. Even though the gang got up with no problem, Odd was still sleeping. (Of course)

"Odd, wake your ass up, we need to get started." Aracane said as he shook Odd on his cot.

"Ten more minutes, then I want to get some breakfast first." Odd muttered still half asleep.

"You can eat when you actually work up an appetite. Every minute counts." Bel'la said, trying to get him up.

"I have the solution." Ralfaius said as he went to the side of Odd's cot and flipped it over, throwing Odd to the floor.

"Okay, okay, okay geez, I'm up. All I wanted was some breakfast." Odd muttered as he got his coat and pants on then his blade gauntlets and finally his bow and arrow.

Everyone finally headed into the center of the town and saw Allan already coordinating the people with the chart raised up by two miners to show the people. "So you all know where you need to go. The young warriors will also come to the sites to help with the traps. This is going to take every available person here. We've lived here for far to long and now we have a chance to be free, so we need to make this work. Now let's do it friends!" Allan said and the miners cheered and then head off to gather the materials they needed and headed to the sites.

The gang approached Allan happily since he already got the miners going. "Great job Allan, we will be done in no time at this rate." Ulrich said to Allan.

"When's breakfast?" Odd asked which made Yumi tug his pointed ear.

"The miners are already waiting for you guys. And as for breakfast Odd, we will bring it out to you and the others in trucks and wagons." Allan says to Odd. "Well my friends, let's get to it, time is of the essence." Allan said to them.

The gang broke off into several groups and either walked or rode in small carts along with the other miners who hauled supplies to the various locations.

()()()()()()()()()

Z was taken to a old small warehouse where the miners hid their weapons. Inside the warehouse a Cataranion miner pushed a crate aside and then grabbed a handle on the floor and lifted the cover and pulled out a large trunk. "Well this is all we we're able to hide when those troops came and took over the place and our weapons. We kept them clean and ready to use in case some of us snapped one day. All the guns and ammo is in there, so use it how you see fit." The miner said to Z.

"Thanks, I will." Z said as he pulled out a pump-action shotgun and a few hundred shells that were compatible with the assault shotgun and it's drum clips he took from one of the mercenary troops from the fortress. He then took out two different assault rifles with thirty full clips. There was a dozen different handguns and a massive revolver with plenty of speed loaders for the revolver and dozens of extended clips for the handguns. The crate also had two sub-machine guns and the last gun really made Z happy.

"Oh-ho yes! Anti-tank rifle with suppressor and shock-absorbing stock. This will punch right through multiple troops with ease, but I need to use it sparingly." Z said as he then began to organize his newly acquired weapons for the battle ahead.

()()()()()()()()

The canyon was already busy as William and Aracane got to the opening of the canyon where four excavators were waiting for them. The drivers began to dig a large long trench while the two directed them as they dug a eight foot deep by ten foot wide trench that stretched over a hundred feet from the edges of the canyon a half mile in.

()()()()()()()()()

Further down the canyon Leadonus, Ralfaius, Miodelus, Knulgen were stationed in the middle of the canyon which was much wider with over a hundred of the miners with shovels and began to dig small holes throughout the area. "Dig as many holes as you can. Deotalus and Jeremie are building the charges and explosives for the holes." Leadonus yelled out to the miners and then began to dig.

Not far from them a large tent was pitched up where Jeremie and Deotalus and dozens of miners were busy making mines with cable charges to connect all the mines. Thankfully they had more explosives then they knew what to do with. "Okay Jeremie,we need to make multiple charge points so all the explosives go off together. They have to go off at the same time for maximum damage. I'm thinking a hundred feet of explosive line." Deotalus said as the two worked at a table covered with parts and tools.

"We're going to have to build many detonation lines and a few signal relays since we will have so much mines set up." Jeremie added as he worked along side Deo. The miners were also busy with strapping sticks of explosives and cutting detonation wires to connect to the explosives and put them in large piles.

()()()()()()()()

"So how many do you have exactly? And what breed are they again?" Says Jack asking a miner as they walk towards a long building.

"Well we brought these horses in when the mine opened as a temporary means of hauling stuff if we had a mass breakdown of equipment. As for what breed, they're Thunderhoofs." The Human miner said to Jack as the two made it to the stables. The miner opened the doors and the two stepped back a little from one of the horses that whinnied at them.

The horses in the stables were massive, almost twice the height and width of a regular horse. Their hair was light gray with white manes and the lower parts of their legs were black. "And as for how many, well we have enough for you guys. The only problem is they are hard to handle." The miner said as the large horses continued to run around in they're large stables.

Jack cautiously approached one of the horses that ran around. The horse saw Jack and stopped running and backed away from Jack as he got closer. The horse then bucked up and whinnied at him to keep away. Jack slowly pulled out an apple that he took from the breakfast cart and held it up to the horse. The horse then calmed down and sniffed the apple and happily ate it. "There now, your a friendly horse aren't you." Jack said as he pet it's large head. The other horses also began to calm down and even let Jack pet them too.

"Well I'll be! That's the first time I've ever seen those horses get friendly with a stranger so fast." The miner said with a smile.

"I have grown up with horses, this is just the first time I've ever been this close to Thunderhoofs. Their just what we need, but it won't be enough," Jack said as his tone got stern. "We can't ride these horses into battle without anything to protect them, we need to make armor for these horses." Jack said to the miner.

"That's a excellent idea! We have a lot scrap metal and we should also build armor for you guys, I'll send some people to your friends sites and take some measurements." The miner said as he left the building and Jack then began to get the horses ready.

()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich, Odd, Kairaree, and Alpha were in the middle of the canyon that was filled with rock pillars all across the area. The four and a few dozen miners used hand-held jackhammer like tools to chip away at the lower part of the pillars until there was enough left for the miners to quickly place a large metal bar right before the pillar could fall and then tie a rope in the middle of the bar.

"I hope we get all these rock pillars set up and they don't fall before we even get to use them." Says Ulrich to his friends as they worked on a pillar.

"No worries Ulrich, Alpha scanned each pillar and showed where the best places to chip away on the pillars so they dont fall." Odd assured Ulrich.

"Even though Alpha is scanning and even working on the pillars himself, we still got a ways to go before we're done." Kairaree said as she gave another bar to a miner from a crate.

"I have calculated that if we keep this pace, we will be done a few hours past afternoon. But we need to still be very careful with these rock pillars so they don't fall on us." Alpha said as held a pillar up and place a bar in the wedge.

()()()()()()()()()()

In a small storage building, Aelita dragged Yumi in for a special project. "So what did you need me for again Aelita?" Yumi asked as Aelita pulled out a cloth from one of the crates and put it on a table in the room.

"If we are going into battle, then we need a banner to show the miners that we fight for them. Allan was the one who actually gave me the idea." Aelita said as she picked up a small can of black paint and brush.

"That's a good idea, if you don't mind, how about we make it similar to a Japanese war flag. The kind that they ride into battle with." Yumi suggested.

"Sure thing. You get what you need to make the flag and I'll get the cloth that will be our flag ready to paint. The only question now is, what can we use as a symbol?" Aelita wondered.

"We'll figure something out. Right now we need to cut the cloth in a rectangular shape. Then we need a pole that has a shorter poll running vertically at the top-" As Yumi continued to explain what they need to do with the flag, outside the others and the miners got further in they're preparations of the traps.

()()()()()()()()

Bel'la and Allan were at the top of the canyons each on the opposite cliffs helping the miners roll massive boulders to the very edge of the cliffs while other miners hung from harnesses to place explosive charges just under the boulders. "Come in Allan, my side is halfway done with the boulder traps. How are you doing on your side?" Bel'la asked through her walkies-talkie to Allan.

"We are also halfway done with our side. These boulders are taking some time since we have to pull them from the quarry dump where we throw our mined rocks, but if we keep this pace, we should be done around noon." Allan replied back to her.

"Great! We will take out many of the swarm troops before we have to fight them head on. I just hope we put up enough boulders for this trap. Five-thousand is a lot to fight even with all these traps we're setting up across the canyon." Bel'la said as she directed another bulldozer pushing some more boulders.

"We can only hope so Bel'la. To be honest I feel guilty you all are fight for us, even though you young ones are willing to fight for us, your still just teenagers and your going to be fighting a war against impossible odds." Allan said to her.

"It's all right, it's what we do. We've had our fair share of battles before, the only difference is that there is just a lot more enemy's this time. But we will handle it, we promise." Bel'la chuckled as they both continued to direct the bulldozers and the miners with the boulder traps.

()()()()()()()()

The excavators were more then halfway done with digging the wide long trench as dozens of miners walked to their position while three long trucks filled with long large poles that were six inches in diameter. The miners began to unload the poles and take them to the trench and began to place them in rows along with Aracane and William helping.

A pole driver vehicle rolled in and began to help drive the poles deeper into the ground. When the poles were placed deep into the ground, the miners then climbed the poles and used blowtorches to cut the flat tops into sharp points.

"We will take a big chunk out of the enemy's right away, even though it is a little grim Aracane. In fact on my planet a long time ago, there was this madman in Europe called Vlad the Impaler. He would impale people on wooden poles like this, he was a really sick man." William said as the two set up a pole.

"Well this planet has had it's fair share of lunatics as well. I guess our planets aren't that different after all." Aracane replied when they got the pole straight and ready to use.

"Guess not, because despite the fact that there are horrible people on both our planets, there are also people willing to help those in need. Kinda like you guys, our Earthera friends." William said as they went on to put up another pull.

"Same thing to you our Earth friends." Aracane smiled back as two continued to set up poles.

()()()()()()()

Inside a long building that was know as the foundry, over a hundred of the miners were busy building the armor for the Thunderhoof horses that the gang will soon be riding into battle with. Teams of miners were building the armor for the heads, the front bodies, the side of the bodies, the necks, and the legs. Thankfully the miners got accurate measurements from all seventeen of the horses, since Jeremie will be inside Alpha. And Jack even managed to get the horses under control long enough to measure.

The miners pounded and wielded away at the metal plates and shaped them into the armor and tied and mended the pieces together with leather and other strong material to form the horses armors. While the miners worked, Jack helped build the harness systems that will be used to put the armor on the horses.

"The armors are coming along nicely. We need to make lances as well when we charge the lines of swarm troops." Says Jack to some of the miners he's working with. "I'm also thinking of some explosive arrows for Odd and another bow for me. I'll go find Deotalus and draw up some plans for the arrows and lances." Jack says as they set up the last harness line.

"Well we got all the parts we need, so we can began to make another bow and we can get the explosives to make the arrows and enough poles to make all the lances you guys want." Says a miner that Jack was working with as they all began the next part of the armor and weapons construction.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Three of the Surfane brothers and Knulgen and the miners continued to dig holes as Deotalus and other miners began to place and connect the explosives and bury them in groups across the open canyon. "How many mines are we making anyway? This is going to take all day!" Ralfaius said to Deo.

"As many as we can make, but we're almost done. When we finish we will also set up some of the cranes for another set of traps, I've had this idea that I think will be very effective." Deotalus replied to Ral as he set up another mine into the ground.

"Ooh! Are you going to set the cranes up with the cable line extended out with wreaking-balls held up to swing down when we trigger the lines?!" Miodelus said with excitement.

"That's pretty much the plan Mio." Leadonus answered his jittery brother.

"One thing at a time guys, let's get these mines finished first. Then we will help with the next traps before late afternoon." Deo said while they worked on the mine field.

()()()()()()()()()()

After Z finished setting and organize his new guns, he went out into the fields to help work on the traps. The miners set up a row of six construction rollers in the middle of the canyons narrow pass by lining them up and wielding them together with metal bars and then opened the engine covers and attached the starter lines together on a system of wires all connected to a remote starting system placed in the seat of the middle roller.

"This trap is very clever since this is a more narrow pass, the enemy troops will only face a wall of thousands of pounds of solid metal rollers rolling over them." A Molknuc miner said to Z as they finished setting up the rollers.

"This narrow pass is only a hundred feet long, we will only be able to do so much damage. So we need to lead the enemy troops this way and get out of the way before we set the trap off. So I will be in charge of the remote trigger." Z said as he looked at the remote. "Just make sure these construction vehicles are in working condition and able to roll on their own." Z says as they began to finish final preparations.

()()()()()()()()

It was almost noon and William, Aracane, and the miners finally finished with the spike pit trap. They all cheered at the first trap done as Jack approached the two. "Great job guys, the pit is going to work, and the miners have also finished setting up the explosives that will go off at the opening of the canyon and force the enemy troops to press forward and unable to retreat." Jack says to the two.

"Yes, but I'm worried the swarm will see the pit before they fall in." Aracane says to Jack.

"He's right. If they turn back when they see this trap, then all the other traps would have been nothing but a waste of time!" William added.

Jack put his hand to his chin and thought about what they said. He then smiled and walked to the edge of the pit. "I think I have an idea guys." Jack said as he keeled down and placed his hands to the ground. "Fansan-do'hal." Jack shouted. The dirt began to swirl around him then rise up and over the spike pit. The miners that worked on the pit stared in amazement for seeing magic perform right in front of them. The dirt then began to harden and become stable until it looked like there was never a pit there before.

"All right Jack! They won't know what hit them until it's too late!" Aracane praised the Prince with a little too hard pat on the back.

"I'll put a few rocks down in front of the pit so we don't fall in. I figure we need to let the enemy troops see us so they will chase after us before falling into the pit trap." William said as he picked up some large rocks and placed them.

"That spell will hold for a few days, but we won't need to worry about that tomorrow when they arrive. I just hope we do some damage to they're numbers before we have to fight them." Jack replied as the three and the other miners went off to work on the rest of the traps.

()()()()()()()()()()

Eli'ton and some miners were further in the canyon setting up make shift turrets that will shoot flames using the drums of fuel that's used for the construction vehicles. They were setting up about a dozen turrets spread out in a wide row. The parts they were using was various pipes and tubes with three full drums on each turret with a small canister at the end of the flame barrel as a starter flame for the fuel that will be shot out with powerful air pressure engines to shoot the flaming fuel very far.

"These flame turrets will shoot a wide arc of flame over them. It's going to be very painful for these swarm bastards." Eli'ton said as he finished assembling one of the turrets.

"We will be done with these turrets soon, but we're worried because these turrets will be the last traps we can build. You guys will have to most likely fight the swarm after this trap." A Lizardin miner said to him.

"We would have to fight them eventually. All we can do is hope that the traps will take out a huge amount of them." Eli'ton replied as he went on to another flame turret.

()()()()()()()()

Jack, Aracane, and William went to the top of the canyon to help prepare the crane traps. They had a crane on each side of the canyon with the wreaking-balls on the edge of the cliffs with the cables connecting them unrolled and about fifty feet away from the crane vehicles. They talked to Deotalus on how much of the line they need to unroll so when the wreaking-balls are pushed off the cliffs, the balls would swing without dragging on the ground but hitting the swarm troops in the chest area and still be able to swing a few times before stopping.

As Jack and William help direct the crane operators to extend the crane out over the canyon, Aracane did the same on the other side as the three made sure the cranes were far enough away from each other so the crane lines don't get tangled up as the wreaking-balls swing over the enemy troops.

()()()()()()()()()

Ulrich, Odd, Kairaree, and Alpha finished setting up the rock pillars. They had over thirty pillars ready to fall. They set the ropes up on small poles with a little bit of the rope hanging to grab and pull the bars away and have the pillars fall.

"All right guys we did it! Thirty pillars ready to fall at the pull of a line." Kairaree says to her group.

"Thankfully these pillars are far enough away from each other so we don't set any of them off prematurely too." Odd added.

"We have completed this section. We should now move on and help with final preparations of the other traps." Alpha said to them.

"We'll be done soon enough. And tomorrow we ride into battle." Ulrich said as they left the area to help with the other traps.

()()()()()()()()()()

As the day went on into noon and beyond, the traps were finally prepared. Now the final part of their plans were underway. The gang went into the foundry to take measurements of their bodies except for Eli'ton since he already wore full body armor. Jack made himself a long bow and the miners made a few dozen quivers full of arrows for him and Odd, some with explosive tips.

The miners lined up the Thunderhoof horses into the harness systems and lowered and strapped the armors onto the horses bodies with Jack helping of course since the horses liked him. One by one the horses were suited up with two of them carrying the quivers for the two archers.

Deotalus helped build the lances after him and Jeremie finished building the minefield. Him and the miners built long holsters that will hold five lances each and put two on the sides of each horses. After they were done building the lances and holsters, the miners finally began to build the armor for the gang.

"Hey where's Yumi? We need her so they can build her armor as well." Kairaree asked the gang.

"I'm right here, me and Aelita were making something for the battle." Yumi answered as she walked into the foundry.

"What is it? What were you two working on?" Ulrich asked.

"Oh you all will see soon enough." Yumi smiled as they began to help make their armors.

Piece by piece the gang and the miners began to build their armor. Thanks to the miners quick work the armors for each of them took only a few hours. When they were done with the parts the miners helped put the gangs armor on them. They're armor was dark gray and simple in design with long plating rivets on the side of their legs with large shoulder pads and pull down visors for their helmets. When they checked to make sure the armors fitted right, the gang thanked the miners who built they're armors and then took them off and went back to the garage with their armor to rest up for awhile and get ready and make some final preparations.

"Wow! I feel like a total badass in that armor." William said as he took a seat on the couch.

"You know William, your Scottish right?" Odd asked.

"Well yes I am, why?" William asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Have you ever saw the movie Braveheart?" Odd asked with a smile.

William pondered for a second then figured out what Odd meant. "Oh no! I'm not painting the side of my face blue! We may be charging into battle, but I'm not going Hollywood just because I'm Scottish." William said as he crossed his arms.

"C'mon! It will be awesome. You riding into battle yelling 'freedom' and such." Odd pleaded.

"You should do it William. Honor your ancestors. I had the miner make a round shield and painted my lands symbol on it like my ancestors did." Aracane added.

"Don't you start ax guy! I'm not painting my face." William assured them.

As Aracane and Odd tried to convince William to paint his for battle, Kairaree went to the bathroom with several small paint packets. She opened the packets and took off her top revealing her leather bra like undergarment and right arm guard and stood in front of the mirror with a few brushes.

She took a brush and dipped it in blue and drew two lines down on both cheeks and one line over her forehead. Then she took some green and made four dots on both sides of her face and two at her forehead. She took some red and painted it under eyes and brows and over the bridge of her nose very heavily then took some black and painted at the edges of the red and made some lines under her chin and jaw lines. Then she took some orange and dotted her long light green fin-like pointed ears. She got some yellow and drew lines on her slender neck and down the front of her chest.

She then took the green again and made straight dots up her arms and then used the red and made stripes at her upper arms then red streaks at her forearms and fingers and drew small blue lines on her fingers. She took a larger brush and made large stripes at the sides of her abdomen then took some black and made wave like lines on her stomach and red dots over the black lines.

Finally she drew red lines on her lizard tail and then some black dots and finally some yellow streaks. She then took her wild hair and pulled it back into a tight ponytail making it almost look like a Mohawk. "Well since I'm charging into battle tomorrow, I might as well act the part too in honor of my mothers tribe." Kairaree said to herself as she grabbed her top and walked out back into the room with the others.

Aracane and Odd were still trying to convince William to paint his face. "All right fine! I'll do it! If it will shut you two up, I will paint the side of my face blue! But I will not shout freedom, and that's final!" William yelled, finally caving in.

"I think it's a good idea William." Kairaree said which caught the others attention.

"Wow Kai, what is this all about?" Yumi asked her in amazement of the warpaint.

"In my mothers tribe, it is tradition to wear warpaint before going into battle, I'm just waiting for the paint to dry before I put my top back on." Kairaree said as she took a seat on another couch where Z was sitting.

"It's... very amazing looking Kairaree. Your mother would be very proud." Z said chocking a little and glancing at her body.

"Thanks Z, this is not even full warpaint cover. In fact my father actually met my mother when she was wearing warpaint that covered her whole body. She tried to kill him because she thought he was an intruder but it obviously worked out for them." Kairaree said to him with a smile.

"So Yumi, what's the surprise? What did you and Aelita work on anyway?" Jeremie asked her.

"Why don't I show you." Aelita said as she opened the door and walked in holding a pole with a cover over the flag. "Me and Yumi made it like a Japanese war flag." She said as she positioned it in front of the others and got ready to take the cover off.

"Well what are you waiting for? Show us, I really want to see!" Miodelus said as he began to rock his seat.

Yumi walked over and held the pole up while Aelita pulled the cover off. The others gasped in amazement of what was on the flag. "We had a really hard time thinking of what should be on the flag since we never even had a symbol when we were fighting Xana back on Earth. So after awhile we finally came up with a solution that resembles all of us." Aelita said as she gestured to the flag.

On the Japanese like war flag was the gangs weapons in a large circle. Ulrich's swords were crossed. Yumi's short sword pointing down with four of her fan-blades at the sides. Odd's claw blade gauntlets and bow over them. Williams sword propped up. Both Sam's blunted and bladed tonfas crossed. Jeremie had his glasses on the flag. Aracane's double-bladed ax. Kairaree's daggers and chain weapon wrapped in a circle around the daggers. Knulgen's sword with even the pendent hanging on it's wire at the bottom of the handle. Z's handguns crossed with his two forward curved machete blades at the sides. Bel'la's staff-blade and large boomerang. Eli'ton's blade gauntlets crossed with the helmet of his armor over the blades and the small boomerangs under the gauntlets. Leadonus scythe and battle sickles. Deotalus trident. Ralfaius sais and sai-like knifes. Miodelus nun-chucks and three-section-staff. Jack's sword the Excalion. Alpha's head. And finally Aelita's energy field with the angel wings on the sides. Under the the circle was a silhouette like drawing of the Skid and a tower like the ones in Lyoko in the middle of the circle.

"That is so cool! It's perfect, the weapons resemble us all." Odd said with excitement at the flag.

"I'm guessing the glasses are me since I don't have anything else to resemble me." Jeremie says a little disappointed.

"I like how the Skid is at the bottom of the circle and a tower in the center of the circle." Ulrich commented.

"When they see us charge into battle with our flag raised high, they will know that we will not back down and we will not surrender!" Aracane said with pride.

"That's the spirit Aracane. Now we need to head to Allan and the head miners and go over the plan one more time before we call it a night." Z said to the group.

The gang agreed and head into the main office where Allan and the head miners were and pulled out the chart with they're traps drawn on the chart. "First of all, I would like to thank you all for your help, this would have never been even possible without your assistance." Aelita said to Allan and the miners.

"We wouldn't even be close to freedom if it wasn't for you brave young warriors. Now please, tell us how your plan will go." Allan said to them as he and the head miners sat down and waited for them to go over the traps throughout the massive canyon.

"For starters when the troops get about a mile into the canyon, they will fall into the spike pit. At that time the explosives set at the opening of the canyon will go off and trap them in the canyon and force them to continue forward." Aracane started.

"Then we will lead them to the minefields and when we get pass the other end of the field, we will have you all set the explosives off when the enemy troops get to the end. If we are lucky, we will take out a huge number of them since there's over a hundred feet of the minefield." Deotalus said taking his turn.

"Then we will lead them to the boulder cliffs and you guys will set off the explosives at the edges sending the boulders down on them, forcing them to break ranks." Bel'la explained.

"Then we will fight them head on with our lances for awhile, we will then lead them to the rock pillars and topple the pillars right onto their heads." Ulrich said, proud of their work on the rock pillars.

"Next we have the wreaking-ball traps to swing down on them. Hopefully the wreaking-balls will get a few swings in before they stop." William simply said to the miners.

"After that we will set off the rows of rollers. Since the construction vehicles are being held together and that path is the most narrow of the entire canyon, so we will take out a lot of them." Z said, telling them his trap.

"Finally after that we will activate the flame turrets and burn as many as we can. Then we will have to fight what's left after that trap. If all goes as plan, we will take out a huge chunk of the swarm army and we will be able to finish them off for good." Eli'ton said, finishing explaining the plan.

Allan and the miners clapped and some of them even cheered. "Fantastic warriors. This plan will work and we will be free. And it's all thanks to you teens, I don't know how we will ever be able to repay you all." Allan said to the gang.

"We don't need anything in return. Just leave this mine and be safe and take care of yourselves. And most importantly Allan, go find your son and be a family again." Yumi said to him.

After the plan was explained and the miners congratulated the gang on their plans. They then went to the dining halls for a well deserved early dinner and went over the traps (Or Kairaree's warpaint) to any of the miners who asked. Finally the gang went back to the garage to rest and call it a night.

"Well this is it guys. Tomorrow we ride into war against a horde known as the swarm. So we need to expect the worse since we don't know much about them." Knulgen says to them with his hands behind his head.

"Just try not to go over the edge Knulgen. We need to stay in formation and stick to the plan." Aracane reminded him.

"Hey guys, did we leave the door to the garage open?" Miodelus asked. The gang looked and noticed that the door was opened.

Z took out his handgun and they all slowly approached the door and looked in. "Hello there warriors, it's nice to see you again." Guardian Warrior said to the gang while standing in the dark with only a lamp light on and waiting for the gang.

"GW! It's nice to see you again. How you been?" Odd waved to they're other worldly guide.

"What brought you here GW? Is everything okay?" Ulrich asked him.

"I came here because we noticed that you are about to go to war against Xana's new swarm troops. I also know what you five did the other day." GW said to them. Ulrich, Yumi, Odd, Sam, and William felt the pain of taking a life resurface in their hearts for a second. "I know what you did was hard, but know this. Just because you killed someone does not make you evil or beyond redemption. It is the nature of battle and war to have loses of life. Just know that what you all do is to save lives and help those in need. It is the way of the warrior to overcome challenges in all forms." The wise GW said to them.

"So did you really come here just to tell us this? Not that we don't want to see you." Deotalus said to him with a chuckle.

"Only partly, I also have something to give you all. Follow me to the forge next door." GW said and lead the gang to the forge without another word. When they got inside the gang noticed that the forge seemed to be in use. The fire was burning at the fire pit. "I know what you all are about to fight against, and I brought you all here to give your weapons a 'upgrade' in a sense." GW said to them.

"Give our weapons an upgrade? How are you going to do that?" Leadonus asked him.

"Oh not me. They will be the ones to do it." GW said as he pointed his staff in the direction of a dark corner. Out from the dark, ten beings like GW walked out. They were over seven feet tall and wore heavy shimmering armor with big blacksmith aprons and plain gold masks and held long weapon like hammers.

"GW, who are these people? Are they like you?" Yumi asked in amazement of the beings.

"In a way yes. These beings are known as Forge Spirits. They are the masters of the craft, makers of legendary weapons, assistance to the 'gods' of blacksmith, and even helped the first king of Arthurlot create the Excalion that you wield right now Jack." GW said, introducing the gang to them.

"My father often told me about the Forge Spirits. But I must be the second one in my family to see these beings in thousands of years." Jack said as he walked up to the beings. "I am truly honored to be in your presence." Jack bowed to them, and they bowed back.

"That's nice and all, but what do they want with us?" Knulgen asked a little smug.

"They are here to reforge your weapons. They will dip your weapons in a material that exists between our realms or what some of you call 'limbo'. The ore is called Mysticalium, and it shimmers and shines with power and will make your weapons cut with little effort and wont break nearly as easy as normal weapons would and wont even change the looks of your weapons." GW explained to them.

"Wow, we're really grateful for this. When do they start?" Deotalus asked.

"Right now my warriors. Just stand back a little, sparks will fly." GW said to them. He raised his staff and the gangs weapons began to float up and out of they're sheaths and such. Even Odd's bow came off and Eli'ton's blade gauntlets slid off his arm armor.

Even Z's two personal handguns that belonged to his parents broke into pieces and floated over along with his machetes. "I'm sorry we can't really work on your weapons Alpha. But the problem is that your weapons are built into your very body."GW said to the robot.

"It is all right. My body and weapons are made from a very strong material that is not very common to make or easy to come by. I have gotten along just fine." Alpha simply replied.

The weapons floated above them in a slow circle. Then on the floor a pentagram like symbol shinned and it glowed bright until a large cauldron came out from the floor. In the cauldron was the melted mystic ore shinning bright white with other colors shimmering in it. The weapons dipped in one by one until they were all in. After a few minutes the weapons emerged coated in the mysticalium. The weapons then floated to where the forge spirits stood and seemed to lie down on an a long anvil like item that seemed to be made of light.

The forge spirits raised their hammers over the glowing weapons and began to hammer away. Bright sparks flew all over the place as the spirits hammered the material into the gangs weapons and even the anvil of light shinned with each strike. They worked in perfect sync with they're massive hammers hitting the weapons. The room shook as if there was thunder right outside the building.

"You know I'm worried about the other miners hearing this! What if someone comes to see whats going on? What will we do if they see this?" William shouted over the thunderous hammering. The others also agreed with him.

"Do not worry warriors! I cast a spell over this building! Outside this building will look like there's no one in here, even if they look into the windows. We are completely invisible until me and the forge spirits leave this realm." GW answered back, or more like shouted back over the hammering.

After two hours of watching their weapons being reforged, the forge spirits began to slow down their hammering. Finally they stopped and pick up the dimmer but still glowing weapons and summoned golden glowing whetstones and sharpened each of the weapons and reassembled Z's guns. When they were done, the weapons glowing finally died down and returned to the normal look as if nothing had happened to the gangs weapons.

"Take your weapons back young warriors, they are forever infused with the mystic energy of the new material and are now even capable of absorbing powerful energy and access new powers and form for all of your weapons." GW said to them as the gang took back their weapons and looked them over and even noticed the shimmer in the weapons.

"Thank you GW, and thank you forge spirits." Kairaree said to them. The forge spirits simply nod back to them.

"Now that your weapons have stronger cutting power, your war tomorrow will more easier to fight. But remember that you must work together to stop the swarm that heads your way and save the miners. I will leave you now, but I will see you again. Farewell young warriors." GW says to the gang as he and the forge spirits began to fade away. The gang also said their good-byes and GW and the spirits were gone and even made the forge look like no one was ever there in the first place.

"Well guys it's late now, we should call it a night and get up early so we can prepare for war in the morning." Z said to them. The gang nodded and went back to the garage and went to bed on they're cots and couches.

Tomorrow the gang will charge into battle against five-thousand swarm troops. Even with their weapons new and improved with mystic material, the odds were still greatly against them despite the deadly traps them and the miners set up. But the gang knew that if they didn't fight back, many innocent people will be slaughtered at the will of the monster Xana just so he can finally get rid of the gang. With their armor ready to go and their warhorses prepared, the next day will bring a red sun of blood, metal, explosions, fire, war, and death at dawns first light.

**END CHAPTER.**


	27. THE SWARM WAR

**CHAPTER 27: THE SWARM WAR**

DAY 18

The gang woke up around the same time as yesterday. They wasted no time getting their handmade armor on and even helped each other when they need it. William actually upheld his end of the bargain and painted the right side of his face blue in honor of his Scottish roots. Eli'ton helped his sister put her armor on since he always wore his Altravaion Guardian Armor like their father was. Jack put his armor without effort since he came from a land of knights and has been brought up to put knight-like armor on for ceremonial purposes. But this purpose was for war.

Even on Earth a number of people worldwide managed to tune in regardless of some of the time zones to watch the young heroes prepare to ride into battle. Even their families and classmates watched and hoped for the best.

"Well guys, today is the day. We have a whole colony of miners to save and an army to stop. I just hope we pull it off and put an end to them." Ulrich said as he put his helmet on.

"You guys do realize what you five will have to do when you fight this war, right?" Z asked them as he loaded the last handgun in his holster. Z wore the armor over his black coat but the lower part or 'tail' hanged out still giving a drifting effect. His other guns were all over him as well the ammo belts and the anti-tank rifle ready to use **(A/N: I just love those guns! They scream power in a single bullet!)**

"We're aware Z. we knew that the moment we decided to help fight them. Besides, we wouldn't feel right not helping these people when we are able to fight back." Yumi said to him while getting her short sword in it's holster.

"I'm prepared as well. We're here to help people, and that's what we will do." Sam added.

"Then in that case, let's head out. Our horses await." Jack says as the gang left the garage.

Outside the garage, the miner were already waiting for the gang to emerge. They looked at the armored gang with hope and worry. Complete young strangers were about to fight a war for them and they wanted nothing in return. A kind of honor that is rare even amongst the most noble of soldiers and warriors.

They made it to the foundry where the miners brought the Thunderhoof horses already armored up with two long pouches with crude but effective lances on each steed. And many quivers of arrows for both Odd and Jack. One by one the gang was helped onto their horses while Jack was given his long bow And Aracane was given his large round shield with his clans symbol painted on it. The symbol was a double headed ax with an Arachun skull wearing a Spardarac helmet with an ax-like blade for the brush. It wasn't a work of art but it got it's point across.

Over in a private spot, Aelita was talking to Jeremie with Alpha standing behind him ready to 'upload' him into his system. "I still can't believe your all making me sit this out. I thought we we're all in this together?" Aelita said in an almost pouting tone.

"I know Aelita, but we don't have any other choice. We need you to help Allan trigger the traps. Besides, you don't have any means to fight and we don't want you to go through the same thing Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Sam, and William went through. So please just hope for us and if things go bad, get out of here with the rest of the miners while we hold them off." Jeremie said to calm her down.

"Nothing is going to go wrong! You guys will win this and come back alive. Now as a sign of good faith, I want to give you something. Aelita smiled at him.

"What's that?" Was all Jeremie said before she quickly pulled him in for a kiss like the time when they fought against the shape-shifting clone that tried to tear the gang apart that one time. Jeremie staggered back a little from her sudden kiss and blushing mad.

We- well okay thanks. Umm I think I'm ready to go Alpha." Jeremie says stammering a little.

"Understood." Alpha replied as his chest opened and his cables came out and wrapped around Jeremie and materialized him into his very system. Alpha then walked to the horses and climbed a rolling ladder onto his horse. Thankfully these horses could carry over a thousand pounds and still be very fast and mobile. So the others were like a shirt to the horses while Alpha was like a backpack with a few extra books inside.

"So Ulrich, you are going to do the honors of carrying Aelita's flag into battle?" William asked.

"I guess so, they already got the holster for it wielded onto the back of my armor." Ulrich replied. Aelita walked to his side and gave her flag to him. Yumi reached over and helped slide the pole in the holster on his back. The flag stood up and looked marvelous with their symbol for all to see.

"Alright guys. Let's ride into battle." Leadonus says as he pulled out his scythe.

"For the freedom of the miners." Kairaree added while raising her main dagger.

"For the glory of Spardaracta." Aracane said with his shield raised.

"For a lot of dead bastards at my blade." Knulgen smiled while swinging his sword. (His dreadlocks are sticking out from the underside of his helmet)

"Yes, let us battle and send Xana's swarm crawling back to him." Alpha said without the observant and calculating tone.

All seventeen of them whipped the reins and they rode out of the foundry on the massive horses. They got to Allan who was waiting for them at the cliff border near his dig site that lead to the canyon and stopped right beside him. He was holding his binoculars and saw the army still charging with they're round blue lenses bright, the jagged teeth etched near their mouths in a sadistic grin, and their shinny black armor with red marks shining in the rising sun in front of them.

The gang however didn't really need binoculars since they could all see the massive dust cloud being made from the swarm stampede. "Well my friends this is it. I wish you the best of luck. The other miners will be in position soon and waiting for your orders to spring the traps. I have the charges ready to detonate the minefield when you give the signal." Allan said to them.

The gang took a quick look around and noticed a number of the miners also watching and waiting for their saviors to do battle. "Thanks Allan. Aelita should be here soon and help you. We went over with her when the time to detonate the mines will be, so just let her use those binoculars when she gets here." Ulrich says to Allan.

"If things start going bad Allan, we want you guys to try and get out while we fight them. It may be pointless, but it's better then just waiting to be killed." Z added.

"We wont have to. We all have faith in you. And warriors, ride into battle victorious." Allan smiled to them.

The gang gave a small wave and charged off, their mighty horses running down the hill without effort. They reached the canyon opening and began to ride down the long stretch. So many things were going through their heads right now. Will they defeat them all? Will any of them be killed? All they could hope to do is fight with all their might and maybe even strike a little fear into Xana.

They rode pass the flame turrets where Eli'ton help set up then passed the six roller vehicles set up in the narrow part of the canyon that Z helped pull together and even had the remote trigger in his pocket to activate all six rollers to flatten them when they lead the swarm this way.

They then got into the bigger part of the canyon where the two cranes on each side ready to swing. They saw some of the miners at the top waiting for the signal to push the wrecking-balls off the cliff.

Further down the canyon the gang broke their row to pass through the rock pillars that were ready to fall at a pull of a rope with the metal wedge barely holding up the many pillars.

Halfway down the canyon they passed the long row of boulders at the cliff edges with the charges ready to blow just under the cliff edges that will send the boulders crashing down on them and crush and roll over the enemy swarm.

Almost to the end of the canyon after riding for many minutes until the gang then rode over the massive minefield that will be triggered when Aelita gives Allan the signal. But this trap will be the most dangerous to them since they need to wait until the swarm reaches the end of the minefield and they need to ride as far away as they can since the shockwave will be very powerful from the explosion of over a few thousand mines.

Finally they saw the small row of little rocks that William and Aracane set up so they will know where the edge of the spike pit is with Jack's magic holding up a layer of dirt. They stopped just a few feet from the edge in a nice straight row with their flag gently waving in the wind.

()()()()()()()()()

Inside Xana's base.

"Video uplink is established my master. We should have a front row seat to their demise." The head scientist of the swarm troops Johnson said. Him and Ukai and Smoketay were sitting in the same chairs with the computer monitors in front of them and Xana standing between them with his symbol shining in the pitch black room.

"About time your swarm got there. I was getting quite bored of waiting." Ukai grumpily said as he leaned back in his seat.

"I am going to smoke for each one of the warriors that fall. Too bad there's only seventeen of them. Oh well." Smoketay says as he lit another cigar.

"Look at them. They made themselves some armor and even built a few traps, good for them. It will only make their deaths more pleasing when they all die one by one. Their time spent into building those traps and armor all in vain. Oh how I will enjoy this for many years to come, and make Aelita watch over and over when I have her as my prisoner." Xana chuckled from his dark position as the four watched and waited for the coming war.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang was ready for the battle. The dust cloud was massive, the ground thundered from the swarms charge. The gang looked up and saw a few miners on the opposite sides of the cliffs opening, ready to blow the edges so they could trap the swarm in the canyon.

"So what's the plan? Do we even have a plan?" Odd asked as he grabs his bow.

"The spike pit is a few hundred feet from the canyon opening. We wait until they begin to fall in, then we will give the signal to close the swarm off in the canyon." Z answered Odd while putting a clip into his anti-tank rifle.

"And as for a plan, to be honest, I think we should just stick together and fight." Deotalus says with his trident in hand.

"Wow Deo, you actually don't have a long and complicated plan." Leadonus chuckled while gripping the staff part of his scythe.

"They are within range. Right on schedule as I calculated. Mission started: kill and destroy all swarm troops." Alpha says as his eyes turned bright red.

The gang looked and saw the swarm finally in range. They entered the canyon opening and poured in with vicious desire as their built-in targeting computers identified the gang on their visors view, which only made them charge faster. The troops in the front row even had the blades on their arms flip forward and ready to attack.

"Let's get them riled up guys. Give them a reason to come after us." Ulrich said as he draw both his swords out and clashed them together and called out. "Right here guys! Come and get us if you can! Show us what you got!" Ulrich taunted to them. The others also pulled out their weapons and began to do the same thing. With shouts and whistles and even a few middle fingers.

**(A/N: This would be the part where some epic battle music would play, like the first battle in the 300 movie or the fight at Helms Deep in the second LOTR movie) **The swarm was less then a hundred meters from them and the gang was ready. The miners watched from the dig sites and other places, hoping that today they will be free.

"So it begins..." Jack said and they pulled down the visors on their helmets.

The swarm was within reach. The first few rows lunged with the gang just in view of them, only to fall through the ground. Jack's spell dissipated as rows and rows of swarm fell into the spike pit. One by one they were impaled either in their stomach and chest and even heads, shattering the visors and spearing their armor as the swarm troops began to pile up on the sharpened poles while still twitching even when they were dead since the power cells were dying. The sound of scraping metal and screeches of pain echoed throughout the canyon.

"Trap them now!" Aracane yelled up to the miners at the canyon opening. The miners turned on the timed charges and ran from their positions. The explosives blew and caused a rock slide to collapse and trap the swarm within the canyon and even managed to crush a few in the back from the falling rocks.

More fell into the pit since they were unable to stop because of the momentum of their running. The swarm piled up on the spikes until they were able to slow down at the edge of the pit.

"Now's my turn to do some damage." Z said and aimed his rifle and began to fire. The anti-tank rifle punched through a few swarms at a time with a weapon made to take out tanks. The barrel recoiled into the body of the rifle before rolling back out ready to fire again.

"Let's give the swarm a taste of our arrows Odd." Jack says to him and began to fire away with his bow. Jack's aim was true as the arrows hit right in the weakest parts of the swarms armor, which was the necks and under the armpits.

Odd nodded and grabbed his bow and drew an arrow. He took a deep breath before letting go and sending the arrow flying and into the visor of a swarm troop and the troop fell into the pit dead.

The two fired away with Z until finally the swarm began to use their impaled troops as a way to get over the spike pit and onto the gangs side. "They're getting over the pit! Let's move now!" Bel'la shouted as they all turned their horses while more and more got over. Some still fell and got impaled, but they would soon be over and after the gang.

The gang rode fast with the swarm only a few meters from them. "They're right on our asses! And they look pissed as all kinds of hell!" Knulgen shouted to the gang as he looked back to the swarm.

"We need to ride faster! The minefield is not far!" William shouted while whipping the reins.

()()()()()()()

Aelita stood next to Allan near the edge of the dig site. Watching them as they got closer to the minefield. "Their almost there Allan. Be ready to throw the switches." Aelita said to him.

Allan stood in front of a field table with a long detonation board with cables connected to the signal relay that is connected to the minefield. Ready to throw the switches. "I'm ready dear girl. Just let me know when." Allan replied. Some of the head miners walked over, ready to do their part in becoming free from they're long enslavement.

()()()()()()()()

The gang finally reached the front of the minefield with the swarm still behind them. "We're in the minefield. We need to reach the end and get ahead of the swarm before Aelita signals them to detonate." Jeremie's voice from Alpha said to them.

As the gang rode further down the minefield with the other end in view. They made they're horses go faster and finally began to put some distance from the swarm. "Not much further. I really wish we had some earplugs." Yumi said, ready for the loud explosion.

()()()()()()()()()

"Come on guys. It's not much further," Aelita said to herself. She watched as the gang reached the other end of the minefield. "Almost there," They passed the end and continued to ride. "Just a little more," The gang was finally out of range with the swarm just near the end of the minefield. "Do it now!" Aelita called out to Allan.

Allan nodded and turned on the charge. "This is for keeping us imprisoned for so long." He said as him and the other head miners flipped the switches.

()()()()()()()()()()

KAAABBBOOOOOOMMMMMMMM! The ground shook violently as the swarm that was in the minefield got blown sky-high. At least over a thousand of them were killed instantly. Limbs and dead bodies were all over the place while the others who didn't get caught in the blast were stunned and knocked down hard from the shockwave. The gang was out of the blast range, but thankfully only got hit by the wave of air and dust.

They stopped and turned around as the swarm began to recover from the explosion. "Even after all that they still want more. Gotta admire their tenacity." Sam says to her friends.

"We need to attack while their recovering. We won't get a better chance." Ralfaius says to them and pulled out one of the lances from his pouches.

"Let's charge them in a row and break up they're lines." Z said as he pulled out a lance as well.

The rest of them pulled out a lance and got in a straight row. "Charge!" Aracane yelled as they whipped the reins. They charged down the canyon towards the dazed swarm. Their line held tight and close as they got closer to the stunned swarm. They're horses trampled over the dead bodies and still barely alive swarm troops and hit right into middle of the ones recovering from the blast.

The sound of their lances piercing right through the swarms black armor. Their massive horses trampled down any of the swarm that was in front of the gangs row. Thanks to Alpha's mighty robot strength, he was able to skewer six or so before tossing the lance away and pulling out another while the others got through two or three before having to let go and pull out another lance and attack again.

Several minutes passed as they charged the lines until they finally ran out of lances. "We're all out of lances! What do we do now?" Odd shouted as they regrouped while the swarm began to march towards them.

"Easy, we fight!" Knulgen shouted as he charged the ranks with his curved sword and ran straight into the lines. He swing his sword on the right side of his horse like a wild man. His sword cut through the armor with ease as he lopped off they're heads and cut deep into their chests and shoulders, inflicting fatal cuts. "Holy shit! Thanks GW! Maybe your not so weird after all." Knulgen says with surprise as to how easy his sword cut through the swarm. He even bullseyed a swarm troop right in the chest where the Xana symbol was.

"Well let's help him before he gets himself killed." Jack said as he joined in with Knulgen. The hoofs of the horse thundered as Jack charged right into the ranks too. His horse stomped down any swarm troops while his long sword the Excalion cut down the swarm below him.

Z joined in with his disposable handguns and fired away at the them, hitting dead center in their visors and necks until he was finally out of handgun ammo and even threw away the last disposable handgun right in a swarm troops face and saved the ammo meant for his main handguns. He took out his pump shotgun and blasted away, blowing off their heads and breaking their armor.

The rest joined in with they're weapons drawn and attacked the swarm. Ulrich cut through troops with his sabers without effort.

Yumi cut down any of the swarm that leaped at her with her fan-blade and short sword.

Odd lashed with his claws while every now and then switched to his bow and arrows.

Sam used the long sides of her bladed tonfa with quick lashes.

William's butcher sword loped through two to three at a time.

Alpha blasted them down with his gatling-gun lasers.

Aracane's mighty ax executed swarm after swarm troop and sending their heads flying.

Kairaree used her chain weapon to tangle and drag while she stabbed with her dagger at any swarm troops that leaped at her.

Leadonus swing his scythe around like a reaper harvesting souls.

Deotalus stabbed and cut right through their armor with his trident.

Ralfaius stabbed with his sais as the troops leaped at him.

Miodelus strike with his nun-chuck which also cut with the spring-out blades.

Bel'la cut down on both sides with ease thanks to her staff-blade and even used it like the lances.

Eli'ton kept switching sides with his arm-blades as he sliced swarm troops down.

After an hour of non-stop fighting and killing, the gang knew they needed to retreat. "Head back! We need to head back now!" Ulrich shouted as he cut through the head of another troop. The gang retreated back with the even more pissed off swarm troops hot on their tail.

They began to reach into the boulder traps area and passed through. Odd and Jack turned and fired with their bows while still riding towards the next trap while Z used one of his assault rifles and Alpha rotated his right arm back and fired his gatling-gun laser without even looking behind.

As they rode into the middle of the boulder traps. They waved to the miners to detonate the explosives. One by one the explosives went off in perfect sync from across each other as the boulders rolled off the cliffs and the swarm got caught up in the many ton boulders path. The sound of armor and bodies being crushed and rolled over was heard by the gang as they got out of the canyon path with the boulder traps. The boulders rolled into many groups and rows as the cyborg army was unable to avoid the massive rocks crushing and flattening them into the soft ground and flinging them and some boulders even crashed into each other or the canyon walls and any swarm troops in between.

The swarm passed through the boulder trap after the boulders finally stopped rolling and continued to chase after the gang. With their traps halfway done, the gang reached the rock pillars and spread out. They each rode up to one of the ropes wrapped around a pole that was within reach and grabbed a rope. "They're almost here. Pull the bar away and ride onto the next when they get close to you." Alpha called out to them.

The swarm poured into the wider canyon filled with the thirty rock pillars set up to fall. The swarm got closer, the gang was ready to pull the bar supports away. The swarm was finally in range as a few of them set off the first row. The pillars fell without a problem, and as for the swarm troops that were in range, the last thing they saw was the large slant of rock falling on them.

Some had their arms and legs sticking out and twitched a little before finally dying down. Some had their lower bodies caught under the pillar and struggled to try and pull themselves out, but it was all in vain as they finally died.

The gang backed up the horses and pulled the ropes away and the pillars fell over the many groups of swarm troops until the last of the pillars were all used up and the gang needed to move on.

The gang was more then halfway down the long canyon as they reached the wreaking-ball traps. The gang then gave the signal by waving, and the miners up top pushed the wreaking-balls off the cliff edge and the two wreaking-balls swing into the swarm and sent them flying through the air. Their armor was shattered, crushed, and indented by the massive construction tools that sweep them away.

Long lines of dead swarm troops were made from the construction equipment as the wreaking-balls swing until it reached the end of the swarm army and swing again and hit them from the back, knocking them to the ground dead and reached the front again and swing into them back and fourth a few times until the wreaking-balls stopped and the swarm still continued to chase after the gang, but not before leaving many dead swarm troops dead from the wreaking-balls crushing them.

With almost all their traps used up, the gang split in half when they reached the narrow part of the canyon where the roller trap was. Z stopped his horse to wait until the swarm got closer. The gang rode ahead of him since Z was the only one with the remote to activate it.

The swarm came into view and began to squeeze into the narrow canyon. Z pulled out the remote and pressed the button and activated the six construction roller vehicles that were held together in a row. The swarm was once again lead into a slaughter as the rollers basically rolled over them at a steady speed. The wall of heavy rolling metal flattened them into the ground. The rollers pushed against the swarm since the narrow canyon was too small for the entire swarm to spread out in time as more and more were crushed into the ground and under the roller until the machines rammed into the small opening.

"Damn. Even I think that trap was a little too far." Z says to himself a bit surprised by the effectiveness of the trap. But his victory was short lived as the swarm crawled and climbed over the rollers that was blocking the opening. "Now we're down to one last trap." Z said as he rode off to join the rest at the last trap.

The rest of the gang waited by the flame turrets. Their last trap ready to be set off by pulling the release valves on the back of the turrets near the air pressure engines. Eli'ton and a few more of them got off their horses so they can pull the levers. Z rode up to them and got ready for they're final stand against the swarm.

"So how did it go? Did the trap work?" Kairaree asked him. She was ready to pull the release valve on one of the turrets.

"The trap took out quite a lot of them, but I don't know how many more there could be left." Z replied as he loaded a new clip into the anti-tank rifle.

"So this is it. This is where we fight to the last." Aracane said to them, ready to fight to the death against the remaining swarm.

"We will stop them. I'm not going to die here, I'm not going to let these monsters kill us." Yumi said with her fan-blades ready.

"Here they come. Get ready to burn their asses!" Ralfaius pointed with his sai at the swarm.

The ground shake as the remaining swarm came into view of them. There was only fifteen-hundred or so left. Their traps had really thinned out the swarms numbers, but the swarm didn't even care as they once again highlighted the gang on their targeting visors. The gang was ready to set off the twelve flame turrets as the swarm got closer.

The swarm was finally in range and the gang pulled the release valves and the turrets fired over many meters at the swarm. The flaming fuel poured over them in long burning streaks that doused them in fire. The swarm screeched in pain as their metal armor only served to put them in horrible agony. They flailed and rolled in pain as the burning fuel killed hundreds of them. Black smoke raised into the sky and signaled to the miners that the last trap has been set off and now the gang had to fight the swarm head on.

The gang knew they needed to stop them here since the end of the canyon was only a few hundred feet from the dig site and into the town and mountain mine. The final part of the battle will soon begin. The ones who set off the turrets climbed back on their horses and ready to battle.

The fire and smoke died down and the remaining swarm charged with pure anger. Odd and Jack grabbed their bows and began to fire away the arrows they still had left while Z used up the remaining anti-tank rifle and assault rifle ammo. The two archers finished using their explosive arrow heads while the swarm surrounded them, but it only slowed them down slightly.

The swarm had surrounded the gang and attacked. They held firm on their massive horses and cut down any that leaped at them as their horses even back kicked and trampled down on the army. As Ulrich stab and cut a swam troop that leaped in front of him, another leaped at him from the back and sent him to the ground in the troops arms. The gangs war flag fell to the ground while several swarm troops trampled over it, ripping it a bit as they went after Ulrich.

"Ulrich! No!" Yumi shouted, which caught her off guard and a swarm troop leaped and pulled her to the ground. Several swarm troops surrounded Ulrich, blocking him from view. As the troops raised their blades which were pointing down and ready to stab. Ulrich's blade suddenly stabbed out from one of them in the middle of the troops body. The blade turned and sliced outward on the left side as the troop staggered back as Ulrich's other blade speared out in the head area and the troop fell back dead.

Ulrich forced himself back up while the troops slashed at his armor. He swing his blades and cutting down any that got in his way as he ran to where Yumi was pulled down.

As Yumi tried to force the swarm troop off her, Ulrich stabbed with both blades into the back and pulled the troop off her. "Thanks Ulrich, I'm glad your okay." She smiled and held up her hand.

"Same to you. Now let's end this war." Ulrich replied as he helped her up. The two fought together as more troops attacked them.

Knulgen jumped off his horse and attacked the swarm on foot. The maniac finally got tired of fighting on horse back and decided to face them head on. He ran after the swarm, cutting any that was in his way.

Knowing that he will boast later. Aracane jumped off his horse and attacked the swarm as well. He slammed his shield against any swarm troops that attacked him, sending them flying and rolling over his shield while his ax cut through them. A swarm troop stabbed both his blades through Aracane's shield, but Aracane only cut the troop down. More and more attacked him but Aracane held strong against the swarm.

The rest leaped off their horses to join the others. Even Alpha landed on two swarm troops and joined in the fight with his red glowing blade edges that sprang out from the top part of his wrist like the time when he blasted Ukai away in the hidden base.

The fight continued on as the gang cut down more and more of the swarm troops still numbering in the hundreds. The battle became more intense as the swarm troops got closer and surrounded the gang. Their jagged blades cut into the gangs handmade armor. Slicing off pieces and even cut into their bodies. The gangs anger boiled as their armor was shattered and their bodies bruised and beaten while they bleed.

Most of Ulrich's armor was broken off and he finally snapped from the pain inflicted on him. He yelled with pure rage and charged at the swarm. He swing his sword and cut off the head of a swarm troop. Dull red synthetic blood sprayed out from the headless swarm troop and all over the top of his body. Ulrich roared in anger and sliced down another one by cutting the troop through his lower body. The upper body fell to the ground and the legs fell to it's knees, more synthetic blood sprayed out, soaking him more. Ulrich turned and raised both his swords at another and cut through the shoulders and all the way down in an 'X' shape. The head and arms fell to the ground as more synthetic blood sprayed out, covering Ulrich's whole body.

Yumi yelled as her short sword decapitated a swarm troop. The same happened to her as blood sprayed all over her. A swarm troop tried to attack her from behind, but she quickly spun around and cut into the throat with her fan-blade and sprayed more of the synthetic blood on her with the head barely hanging on. She raised her blade and stabbed right into the heart of another and pulled down on the handle as the blade cut through the troops armor and all the way out to the side as she was once again coated in the artificial blood.

Odd's feral rage kicked in as he sliced at two swarm troops with his claw blades, tearing off their heads as the fake blood sprayed up like water from fountains and all over him. He growled and stabbed into the gut of another troop and slashed up and out. More blood sprayed out and all over him and even made his blonde hair look red and even his fury purple tail dripped red.

Sam stabbed with the short part of her bladed tonfa and then cut off the swarm troops head with her other blade tonfa, spraying her with dull red blood. She then swing her tonfa blades and cut off the arms of a swarm troop that tried to attack her. As the troop bleed out, Sam stabbed in the stomach with both blades and sliced out on both sides and sprayed her again.

Williams massive butcher blade cut sideways and though a swarm troop in the chest area under the arms and all the blood from the troops body sprayed out and hosed him, turning his face and blue painted side dull red. William yelled and raised his blade again and sliced a swarm troop dead center in half from the top of the troops head all the way down the middle. The two halves of the body fell to the knees as Williams whole body was sprayed, turning him all red.

Alpha fought with cool and calculating kills with his blades and sliced the swarm troops down. Severed limbs and bodies fell all over the ground and continued to cover Alpha in synthetic blood with only his glowing eyes shining through the bloodshed. He picked up a swarm troop and snapped the troops back over his knee like a wrestler and grabbed two other troops by the heads and slammed them together, crushing their helmets and heads. Alpha then knocked a swarm troop to the ground and stomped on the troops head, crushing the troop under his metal heel while slicing down more.

Aracane's armor was broken away and revealed his entire upper body like before with many new cuts all over him. He smashed his shield against troops while chopping his ax through them. He knocked a swarm troop to the ground and slammed the edge of his shield into the neck and painfully severed the head of the troop. Aracane swing his ax and lopped off another head and like the others, got sprayed all over in blood.

Kairaree stabbed away with her dagger while cutting with her chain weapon. She stabbed in fatal spots while being sprayed from the stabs like water from a fountain all over her body, covering her tribal warpaint.

Knulgen who was smiling at first now had a serious look as he held the handle of his sword with both hands and sliced and cut down troop after troop. Their heads and upper bodies fall to the ground while spraying him with the fake blood. Even the little pendent that was on the wire line that connected to the end of his swords handle dripped blood as he cut more swarm troops down.

Z finally pulled out the revolver hand-cannon with his left hand and fired away at point-blank range like an executioner. The bullet burst right through the helmets and armor, spraying out massive streams of blood while still getting hit with some blood from the entry wounds. He went through dozens of rounds until he ran out with only his main handguns still filled with ammo and pulled out both his combat machetes and hacked right through the swarms armor and finally getting sprayed with so much synthetic blood that his black coat turned red.

Bel'la and Eli'ton fought together. She swung staff-blade around in wide sweeps as the long reach of her weapon cut off heads and other parts of the swarm troops bodies while Eli'ton stabbed and sliced with his arm blades. His Altravaion armor was scratched up and his sleeveless long coat was all tattered. Just like the others, they were covered in blood from the fallen swarm troops surrounding the twins.

The four Surfane brothers also fought together. Leadonus stabbed and sliced with his deadly scythe like he was a farmer harvesting his crops with the weapon. Deotalus speared with his trident and shattered their visors with the heavy end of his trident. Ralfaius stabbed with pure anger with his sais. Miodelus twirled his nun-chucks while cutting with the spring-out hidden blades in the nun-chucks. All four of the brothers were covered with the artificial blood of the fallen swarm troops.

Jack sliced down swarm troops with his Excalion. He put his magic power into the blade and cut down rows of swarm troops with the mystic blade while the energy from the weapon flew off and cut down more troops in burning white light. Jack then decapitated another swarm troop, which made the head fly up and spin in the air while the blood sprayed out all over Jack.

The gang fought and fought as more swarm troops fell to the ground dead. Finally the fighting died down for a few minutes. The gang stood together, their whole bodies covered in synthetic blood. Ulrich stood in the middle of his friends, their faces stern and hard from hours of fighting an army of deadly cyborgs. The swarm stood across from them, still and silent, their numbers down to only a hundred as they stared at the gang through their blue lenses covered eyes.

Ulrich's blades were lowered. A single drop of blood dripped from the blades and hit the ground. The swarm saw it and in that moment, an instinct broke through they're conditioned minds, an instinct that all people know, fear! One of the swarm troops took a step back, then another and another.

The rest began to follow the troops slow retreat. "No... There is no escape." Ulrich coldly said. The gang all roared with their battle cries. They raised their weapons high and ready to finish off the remaining swarm troops and end the war on the mines as they all fought together as the chosen warriors they are.

_Slice, slice, slice, stab, cut, bang, slice, stab, slice, bang, cut, bang, hack, slice, bang, bang, slice, slash, slash, slash, stab, slice, cut, bang, bang, bang, cut, bang, cut, bang, bang, hack, stab, cut, slice, slash, slash, cut, slash, slice, slice, stab, bang, bang, cut, slice, stab, slice, slice, bang, slice, stab, slice, bang, bang, slice, hack, cut, bang, hack, hack, slice, stab, cut, slice, bang, slash, slice, cut, bang, slice, cut, bang, bang, slice, cut, slice, hack, slice, bang, slash, slice, slash, slash, bang, slice, stab, bang, cut, slice, slice, bang, cut, stab, slash, bang, hack, bang, slice, slice!_

It war over! The gang have won the war! The entire swarm laid dead at their feet as Ulrich picked up their tattered banner and held it high for all to see in the middle of the afternoon light. The people of the mines cheered. Even back on Earth their family and classmates was proud of them for fighting for innocent peoples freedom. Aelita waste no time in heading to her friends with Allan and the head miners.

"You did it guys! You stopped the army and now the miners are free." Aelita says to them with pride in her friends and their victory.

"Yes that was truly amazing! A bang up job. That Xana will think twice before messing with you warriors again." Allan chuckled.

"We simply did what was right. All that matters is that you all are safe and you can all leave." Yumi replied as the fake blood began to dry on their bodies.

"Trust me young warriors, we intend to very soon, but first we must celebrate and let you all clean up. Rest our saviors, you have earned it and so much more." Allan said to the victorious gang.

Alpha's chest plates opened and Jeremie was materialized out of his chest and staggered. "Man, I am exhausted. I think I'm more connected to you then I thought." Jeremie said to Alpha still a little weak in the knees.

"Will this celebration have food? I can really eat." Knulgen said as he sheathed his sword.

"Same here." Odd added with a light growl from his stomach.

"I think I'm going to eat my whole body weight in food as well." Sam also said.

"But first we need to head to the shower rooms. After a long day of fighting we could use a nice hot shower to clean off and patch up too." William pointed out to them.

The gang agreed and took off the remaining pieces of their broken armor while the miners cheered and clapped for them and some cried tears of joy and freedom while the gang headed to the shower area where the miners clean off after a long day of mining, but thanks to the gang they will never have to work in the mines ever again.

()()()()()()()()()()

Xana breathed deeply and exhaled slowly while his symbol flared up between each breath. Ukai sat in his seat stunned while Smoketay's cigar actually burned out before he could smoke it. The scientist Johnson stood terrified. His swarm completely destroyed and failed in their mission. "M-m-master Xana. I don't know what to say, I know it looks bad, but we can rebuild. We can recruit more troops and improve the new army. I just need another-" Johnson fearfully pleaded, but Xana stopped him from talking.

"Enough. We will rebuild the swarm army. But not right now, it is time I ended this. It is time to bring them here and finish them like I should have a long time ago. I will have some soldiers escort you out of here." Xana calmly said to Johnson.

"Oh thank you my lord, you won't regret this. As soon as I get back to my lab, I will began working on the programming." Johnson said to his master while he went over the things he needed to do for the improvements of the next swarm program. The doors opened and two troops in black armor walked in and began to lead Johnson out of the room. "I can't wait to work on the next batch of swarm troops. We will have five times the amount of men and even add stronger armor and weapons. Yes, they won't stand a chance against my new swarm!" Johnson continued to ramble as the metal doors closed while one of the troops pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the back of Johnson's head without him noticing.

The doors fully closed and the sound of a muffled gunshot was heard. "You plan on bringing them here Lord Xana, how will you do that?" Ukai asked him.

"Ukai is right. It's not like you can send them a text message or voice-mail." Smoketay joked as he lit up a new cigar.

"I have my ways. I will let them rest for now and then I will reach out to them. And when I tell them how to get here, they will come and they will finally die." Xana answered them, his symbol burning bright in the pitch black room.

()()()()()()()()()

It was way past noon. The gang cleaned up and got patched up by medics. Their cuts weren't too serious thankfully and as they cleaned up, some miners helped clean and mend their original clothes, making them look new. After awhile the gang joined up with the people outside. The place was alive with celebration. The miners set up the trucks and even the six massive trucks that the pick-up squad rode in the day before to be ready to leave while inside the mess-halls the miners cooked up many dishes of food and the gang happily joined in.

Odd took a plate with the intention of coming back for more as he head outside to look for Aelita, Jeremie, and Alpha since they seemed to disappear when they hit the showers. Outside the miners were busy cleaning up the battlefield. Dump-trucks filled with dead swarm troop bodies were pouring them into holes dug by the excavators while taking turns so everyone could join in the celebration.

Odd saw a large toolshed room and saw sparks. He walked closer and saw Aelita and Jeremie working on Alpha's scrapped body with a buffer and wielder. He walked in and they didn't seem to take notice of him. Odd put the plate down on a table and walked up to them with a smile and began to sing a classic song from a famous movie.

"Rub rub here. Rub rub there. Weather you're tin or brass. That's how we keep you in repair. In the merry old land of OZ." Odd sang in a funny tone. As he repeated the lyric again, the two began to slow down in annoyance from Odd's song. Alpha then raised his arm and pointed his laser gun at Odd's face, not amused by Odd's unknown song.

"What?! I was just joking. I figured the song would be perfect for the situation." Odd defended.

"I do not know what your song refers to, but I find it to be very annoying." Alpha says in a annoyed tone while still pointing his gun at Odd.

"You know Odd, if we were in Oz, that song with the cowardly lion would be perfect for you." Jeremie mocked and Aelita dropped her buffer laughing like crazy.

"Very funny. Just come in to eat soon, this place is shutting down by tomorrow." Odd said to them in defeat and picked up his plate and walked back to the mess-hall for many more helpings.

The celebration continued for many hours until it was almost fully night. The gang ate their fill and some even danced around a little. Aracane and Knulgen got in a fight and even tackled each other to one of the long tables and fought. Deotalus talked to Allan about the fossils his dig team dug up over the years. Ulrich just sat down next to Yumi while Odd and Miodelus danced around with some of the miners.

Z just leaned in a corner and for some reason watched Kairaree gracefully dance with some of the miners. Which made Mio and Odd's dance look sloppy and terrible. Lea and Ral noticed Z watching and just smiled to each other at the clueless Zarcanion agent. William actually lied his head down near the gang for a quick nap. Even Alpha, Jeremie, and Aelita finally entered the mess-hall to join in with the rest. The twins Bel'la and Eli'ton just simply kept to themselves and sat with their friends. Jack once again entertained with his magic to the children of the miners to introduce the kids to the mystifying world of magic.

The party finally began to die down and the gang decided that they will turn in back at the garage so they headed for the doors. Suddenly a miner popped into the room in a panicked state. "Everyone come outside! There's a large military like plane heading this way. It may be another attack!" The miner shouted out loud.

"Damn! I knew this victory was going to be short lived." Aracane said as he reached for his ax.

"We just won a war, I think we could handle a military plane." Knulgen mocked him and grabbed his sword.

"Get serious Knulgen. We don't know what we're dealing with." Z said and cocked his guns.

"Just be ready for the worst. It could be a retaliation attack." Leadonus added with his scythe ready.

Outside the miners ran back into the town with only a few joining the gang. They spotted the massive plane that was slowing down. It flew over near the dig site and to the right side of the cliff nearby. The plane was black and had a large body, head, wings and back engines too. The plane looked big enough to hold many people and equipment and other stuff like planes meant for a president or other world leaders, but at the end of the wings the engines rotated downward as the thrusters and back thrusters slowly descended the black plane down as the landing gear lowered and the plane touched down.

The gang ran to the tail part where the loading and unloading bay was and got ready for what was to come. But Z stopped and looked over the plane. "Wait guys! Their not the enemy, I think I know what this is." Z says to them. The gang stopped and turned to him confused.

"What the fuck are you talking about Z?" Knulgen exclaimed.

"How can you be so sure that plane is friendly Z? We're all kinda a little on edge after our battle today." Ralfaius added.

"I think we should listen to him since Z knows military stuff and that he probably knows more then you two do. Especially you Knulgen!" Kairaree said defending Z.

"Whatever." Knulgen's only reply.

"Well guys, we'll find out soon if their friendly or not." Ulrich said as the gang got ready for what was coming. The gang stood in front of the loading bay and the platform began to open. The platform touched down and the gang heard footsteps coming down and got ready for whoever it was. Suddenly a familiar voice called out to Z.

"For crying out loud Z! Did you already clean house out here? You couldn't have save some for me?" The voice called out to Z and he and the ones who met him before knew who it was. He wore the same black coat like Z. The dark skinned man with the burn scar on the left side of his head with very short black hair walked out for all to finally get a better view of him.

"Markus! It's you, what are you doing all the way out here?" Z says to him excited and ran up to his long time family friend.

"I'm sure we both got long stories to tell my boy. I'm just glad to see you again." Markus replied as he suddenly pulled Z into a one armed hug while the others came up to reacquaint themselves with the master Zarcanion and to introduce the ones who didn't meet him before.

The gang caught up on the things that happened since Z and the gang departed from Markus in the city that was once under the rule of a cruel crime lord. As the reunion went on, the gang will soon be contacted by Xana and they will come head to head with the dark cruel lord in a battle like no other, and a dark secret revealed in the hidden mountain base where Xana resides.

**END CHAPTER.**


	28. THE DARK MOUNTAIN

**CHAPTER 28: THE DARK MOUNTAIN **

The gang quickly went to the mining town to settle down the miners and let them know there was no danger and that the people on the plane weren't any trouble. The gang then went inside the battle plane to get reacquainted with Markus. The gang followed him inside to the loading and seating area of the plane and took a seat to catch up.

"So Markus, what are you doing all the way out here? This place is very rural." Z said to start the conversation with his old master.

"It started a few days ago, you know how we are always using our satellites to track for anything unusual?" Markus started. "Well our satellites picked up this mine during a sweep, but the thing was, this place wasn't here when our satellites scanned the area over a month ago." Markus explained.

"This place was hidden by the one known as Xana, how did this location suddenly become seen after being hidden for so long?" Z answered Markus.

"I may actually have the answer." Alpha says to them, catching their attention. "When I up loaded myself to the computer in the fortress and scanned files and locations through satellite links, my powerful processing power must have override whatever was locking this places location from other satellites orbiting the planet." Alpha said to them.

"If that's the case, then why did you come all the way out here with a battle plane?" Ulrich asked him.

"When a mine like this is hidden away from view, we need to assume the worst and fight with the best we got. That's why I brought this battle plane." Markus answered.

"All by yourself? This plane is huge, there's no way someone can fly this plane alone." Odd exclaimed.

"I never said I was alone, remember those pilots that took you guys away after we took down that crime lord?" Markus asked.

"Wait... we never took down a crime lord." Miodelus said confused.

"That's because we never did, it was before we four joined up after the Altravaion twins you dummy." Ralfaius says as he slapped Mio upside the head.

"Yeah we remember them, why do you ask?" Yumi asked him.

"Well they are the pilots of this plane and they are full-time pilots for the Zarcanions." Markus smiled to them.

"Wow! You guys gave them this big-ass plane. What did they do to get this compared to that crappy old one." Knulgen asked, not really caring.

"When you guys left their plane, they delivered the cargo they were carrying to a small hostel area but got shot down. Thankfully they managed to land in a safe area but there cargo plane was beyond repair." Markus says to the gang about the pilots. The gang was shocked and felt really bad for them. "But they managed to contact us and we decided for years of their service, we gave them a new plane and hired them as full-time Zarcanion pilots like I said before, so it worked out for the better." Markus says casually to the gang.

"Well, that's quite a story. Anyway I suppose we should introduce our new members." Z said and pointed to their new friends they gained after leaving the city.

"My name is Bel'la. And this is my twin brother." She says pointing to him.

"I'm Eli'ton. Z told us a lot about you." Eli continued for his sister.

"Ah, your Altravaions, defiantly don't see many of your people around." Markus said to the twins.

"How did- how did you know where Altravaions?" Bel'la asked him surprised.

"I'm a Zarcanion, we're the best detectives in the world. But don't worry you two, your secrets safe with me." Markus assured them.

"Well we are the Surfane brothers. My name is Leadonus." Lea started.

"I'm Deotalus." He waved.

"My names Ralfaius." He casually said.

"And I'm... Miodelus." Mio said after pausing to think of his name which made his brothers groan in disbelief of their absentminded brother.

"Surfane? That wouldn't happen to be thee _Surfane_. The longest running navel family of the Capital city of Aquasailon of the Ocenora continent?" Markus asked.

"Yes we are, but our family and ship hasn't been in any navel battles for a very long time." Leadonus replied.

"What's Ocenora? Where is it?" William asked.

"Ocenora is the Aquamarins original homeland. It's a continent filled with all kinds of different sized islands ranging from tiny to massive and most of them are connected by bridges and Aquasailon is the capital country and oldest city of our species." Deotalus explained to William.

"I'm honored, your family has a long and amazing history on the high seas." Markus nodded to Lea and moved on to the rest.

"I am Jack Arthurlot." Jack said bowing to him.

"I would have to see it to believe it. You guys actually got a prince fighting with you! And not just any prince, but the prince of Arthurlot from the continent of Briourope, the land of magic and spells?" Markus asked in disbelief.

"I am Master Markus. But don't worry, I'm still only a prince, so I'm not desperately needed right now." Jack assured him.

"And who is this big red and black, and what I am going to assume is a robot?" Markus said looking at Alpha.

"My designated name is Alpha. Combat robot." Alpha replied to Markus.

"You guys have defiantly come across a lot of interesting people in quite a few days." Markus chuckled. "So where are you going now?" He asked them.

"We really don't really have an idea at the moment, but we will think of something tomorrow." Z said to him unsure on where they should go.

"Then in that case, why don't you all sleep here for the night and tomorrow I will take you all where ever you young warriors need to go. Now how about you all say hello again to the pilots that flew you." Markus suggested as he lead the gang further into the plane.

"Sounds like a plan. That garage smelled like shit anyway." Knulgen said.

"If it's that bad, then why don't you sleep outside." Aracane suggested to him crudely.

The gang caught up with the pilots and even the Molknuc woman who Knulgen was rude too. After awhile the gang turned in for the night on the massive plane after gathering their stuff from the garage and went to the sleeping quarters and called it a night, unaware of tomorrows coming battle.

DAY 19

The gang woke up and went outside from the massive plane and saw the miners already packed up and ready to go. They got into many different trucks, cars, and long trucks and even used some of the construction vehicles to get out. The gang took the time to help the miners and even round up the Thunderhoof horses they lost during the battle and also let them take the military truck they stole from the Xana soldiers when they found Alpha.

The gang met up with Allan who was getting his trailer office hooked up to a truck. Ulrich held the tattered but still good war flag and Aracane had his beat to hell shield and Jack with his handmade bow. "Hello again my friends. You all will be heading out soon as well right?" The archeologist Allan asked his young friends.

"Yeah, my old master Markus will give us a lift to where we need to go." Z replied.

"But before we go, we wanted to give you some stuff to remember us by." Ulrich said and held out the flag while Aracane held out his shield and Jack with his bow.

"We wanted to give you these things since we don't need them anymore. Just our way of thanking you miners on helping us win this war. We would have lost if it wasn't for all your hard work in making the traps." Jack says to Allan.

"I don't know what to say. Thank you warriors, I will treasure them for the rest of my days." Allan said as he took the flag and and the banged up shield with multiple stab holes and the painted symbol faded and scratched up and bow.

"So what are you going to do after you leave this area?" Yumi asked him.

"I am going to go home to my son if he's still living in the same place. It's thanks to you all that we are able to leave and go on with our lives after being here for so long, we owe you warriors a dept of gratitude for our freedom. So thank you great warriors." Allan gratefully said

"No thanks are necessary Allan. We just did what was right." Ulrich replied with his hand up.

"Even if we did get soaked in artificial blood. Thank goodness Alpha told us that or I would be having nightmares for months instead of weeks like I am right now." Deotalus says to Allan, shaking a little.

"So what's going to happen to the mines with all that strange material in it?" William asked.

"We threw all of it back into the mines and closed it off for good." Allan answered him. "Well take care my friends, I hope we will one day see each other again." Allan smiled. The gang and Allan gave their final good-byes to the miners and headed out.

The gang went back to the plane and even Odd had a new stock of arrows for his quiver. They watched the miners drive off from the dusty town, finally free from their mining enslavement for so many years and even waved to Allan as he drive away with his office trailer attached to the truck.

"You all did a great thing for these people. You gave them their freedom back and you saved their lives. So you guys need to tell me how you killed five-thousand troops all by yourselves." Markus asked them as he walked up the loading ramp so they could get the plane ready to go.

"It's a long story Markus, so I hope where ever we decided to go is a long flight." Z joked while everyone else started getting on.

Aelita was the last one to walk up the ramp while not knowing she was being watched.

()()()()()()()()  
Back in Xana's base, a large floating screen showed Aelita while Xana watched her with only his symbol still glowing red in the pitch black room and filled with hateful desires for her. "Now is the time to end this once and for all." Xana said to himself. His symbol changed to a green color and glowed bright.

()()()()()()()()

Aelita was halfway up the ramp when she stopped and put a hand to her head. "Aelita? What's wrong?" Jeremie asked her as he walked down to her.

"I don't know. My head hurts, but I don't know why." She replied as the pain got worse.

"_AELITA."_ A voice echoed in her head. Aelita screamed as the pain in her head became more intense and she fell back.

"Aelita!" Jeremie shouted out and manged to catch her just before hitting the ground. He held her in his arms while Aelita still struggled with the pain in her head. Her eyes were shut closed as the voice in her head talked to her. "Aelita what is it? What's wrong?" Jeremie questioned her, trying to get an answer out of her. The rest ran back down the ramp with concern as well.

"_Aelita. It's been awhile since we last fought. You and your friends have been nothing but a nuisance since the very beginning. Both on Earth and this planet." Xana said to her with venom in his voice._

"It's, it's you isn't it? What do you want Xana?" Aelita said, seeming like she was talking to herself while trying to be strong even though the pain in her head got worse.

Yumi leaned down with Jeremie and tried to help him "Xana? Is he talking to you right now? How is that possible?" Yumi asked with worry.

"_I want to end this now Aelita. Follow the swarms path and it will lead you to my mountain base. Follow it and we will all settle this once and for all." Xana instructed. "And just to make sure you all don't waste time, I will give you a reason to come. If you all don't make it here before sunrise tomorrow, I will attack a nearby city and reduce it to ashes. So either come or live with the guilt of a city and all it's people destroyed." Xana threatened and warned her._

"You monster! I always knew you were cruel, but this is just sick beyond reason." Aelita yelled in anger at him. She couldn't believe even he would go so far.

"What is Xana talking about? What's he going to do?" Ulrich asked, wanting to know what Xana's planning.

"_Understand this girl. I will do whatever it takes to get what I want, and I will take out anybody and anything that gets in my way. So I suggest you tell your friends what I just told you and make your way here now. I will see you all soon." Xana said as his voice faded away from her mind._

Aelita was finally relieved from the pain in her head and Aelita breathed a sigh of relief as Jeremie held her closer for comfort.

"So... what was that about? I knew you guys had a powerful enemy, but I didn't know he could talk through telepathy." Markus said to them.

"What did Xana say Aelita? What is he going to do?" Z asked her sternly.

"Xana... Xana said he wanted us to go to his mountain base. He said to follow his swarms path and we will find his base." Aelita said the first part of Xana's threat to her friends.

"There's more to it isn't there? What else did he say?" Odd asked her.

"He said if we don't get there before sunrise tomorrow," Aelita hesitated for a moment. "He's going to attack a nearby city until it's nothing but ashes." Aelita said as Jeremie helped her back to her feet.

"Motherfucker." Knulgen muttered to himself.

"That's so damn low, that damn coward." Aracane said clenching his hand in anger.

"We have no choice but to go. If Xana is threatening to attack a city, then it's most likely he will do it whether or not we come." Jeremie added as well.

"Then we got no time to waste. Let's get this plane off the ground and we will use our radar to follow that swarms path." Markus said to them. The gang got inside the plane and Markus headed to the cockpit of the plane. He instructed the human and cataranion pilots to get the plane going.

The plane activated, the two large engines began to spin and push the plane off the ground with the back engines kicking in for stability. The plane hovered very high into the air until the engines turned in there stationary position and fly off. Markus lead Jeremie and Alpha into the radar room to follow the swarms path. "We will follow the swarms path with the ground scanning system. It shouldn't be hard since they made such a mess on the way here." Jeremie said as he took a seat at a scanning terminal.

Alpha plugged into a terminal with one of his cables to assist him. "So you can upload yourself into any terminal and computer? Glad your not the kind of robot that wants to wipe out all people on the planet like in the movies." Markus joked.

"I am not programed to have any desire to wipe out all people on this planet. I will only attack when I or my allies come under attack by enemy forces." Alpha replied, still not getting jokes.

"Thanks again Markus. We'll take it from here and direct the pilots from this room. I'm sure the others want to get ready themselves." Jeremie said as he typed away on the terminal keyboard and locked in on the swarms path. The path was nothing but footprints with whatever got in there way. The path started out in the dusty plains that lead to the canyon where they met their end at the gangs hands and into a deep forest.

()()()()()()()()()()

Xana saw the plane take off and into the air only a few thousand feet up so they could watch the path the swarm made. "They're on the way here. And when they arrive, they will be greeted with a surprise. Activate the engine cores now!" Xana ordered into a floating screen where a few scientists stood waiting for his commands.

The scientists nodded to their masters order. "Activate the power cores now." One of the scientists ordered. In the center of the mountain base, a massive room bigger then anywhere else in the base light up. In the center of the massive room a large and tall turbine like engine with a pole like power conductor with many large cables and smaller similar engines all around it began to slowly spin and gain speed as electricity flied all over the place and onto the coiled conduits.

The many black clad engineers pulled levers and connected more cords into many ports to route power as the base began to power up for whatever dark purpose it will soon serve.

()()()()()()()()()

The plane followed the swarms path for many hours. The gang took the time to get themselves ready. They were about to head into the devils den against gods know how many enemy troops with probably a variety of troops and all kinds of weapons and even military vehicles. Aracane and Knulgen worked out in the loading bay while the twins practiced fighting together.

Deotalus was in the equipment room packing a military backpack fill with all kinds of equipment that you would use in a tactical espionage in a army like base. The equipment ranged from code-crackers and tracking tags, radar sensors and communication earplugs for everyone.

In the room across from Deo was the weapons room filled with all kinds of guns on the walls. Z wasted no time in getting himself ready. He had many belts and holsters and pouches filled with all kinds of ammo. Z took all the ammo he could carry for his main handguns. He then took down a new saw-off shotgun with greater range and plenty of slug shells and put it in a holster on the left side of his waist.

He loaded up two mini uzis into a side holster with the extended magazines. He picked up a pump shotgun with a scope and attached a grenade launcher to the pump part of the weapon and loaded up some grenades. He grabbed a SMG with extended barrel and electronic scope. Finally he took a special model assault mini-rifle with a motorized three-barrel tip, **(A/N: If any of you played Borderlands 2, the assault rifle is like those guns) **and loaded up on many of the long magazines.

"I may be carrying some extra weight of ammo and weapons, but I am going to do a lot of damage against Xana and his goons." Z said to himself as he cocked the assault rifle lever. "But I'm going to enjoy putting a few rounds in his symbol, in fact," Z paused and looked up to the wall and took down a carbine rifle with laser sight and grabbed the ten round clips. "Yes, full-metal jackets. That will do some damage." Z smiled and loaded the carbine.

Markus walked into the room from the hall to Z still busy with the guns. "Looks like your ready for war again. Come down to the gear room, I got some new plating for your armor." Markus said and left before Z could even say a word to his old friend.

"That man is always full of surprises for me." Z chuckled to himself and continued to check over the weapons he will be carrying.

The others took the time to practice fighting with their weapons in the wide open training room on the lower part of the large plane. They went through the forms and positions of their training or as for the Earth born members, their self-taught fighting ability's while Jeremie worked on Alpha with a ton of tools all over the place after they locked in the swarms path. He tightened and secured the complex and simply amazing parts and structure of Alpha's robotic body.

Aelita just simply sat down at a wall mounted table and seats thinking over the things that happened over the last few hours. Xana was obviously calling them into a trap but they couldn't ignore him or he will attack a city, but the question was, where is the closest city in this rural area.

After awhile, Deotalus and Jeremie went back to the radar room together to figure out where Xana could attack since the kind of trust with Xana is the one where how far you could throw him. The two looked over a digital mapping screen.

"I still can't figure out where Xana could attack? The whole area is nothing but forest and mountains and beyond that forest is the ocean. So where could Xana possibly attack?" Deo said out loud as the two looked over the digital map screen.

"Maybe Xana has long range missiles? He always made sure to keep himself hidden when he launched attacks on Earth." Jeremie replied to Deo.

"Yes, but Xana just used his 'shadow' to attack on your planet. Here on this planet he has a body, and is crazy, and is evil, and is monstrous, and is cruel beyond reasoning. So in other words, from what you guys have told us, we need to be prepared for the worst and stop him from attacking whatever city he's threatening." Deotalus says going over the lists of Xana's evil.

Well Alpha programmed the route, so we got time to figure it out." Jeremie said, fixing his glasses and the two looked over some more possible locations.

While the two looked over the maps, Z was in the gear room with Markus. He took out a case and opened it to show Z a new bodysuit. "This is the next gen body-armor. Reinforced steel carbon-fiber, light form-fitting plating, ballistic shock-absorption, and soft inner lining so it doesn't chaff or ride up your groin." Markus says going over the new body-armors features.

"Thanks, this makes my old gear look like last century. It's sleek and high tech. I'll go put it on now." Z said and grabbed the case and went to a nearby dressing room. He took off his black-coat and put it over the dressing door and began to change into his new outfit.

"So I see you haven't still told them about, well you know." Markus said talking about Z's secret.

"I still don't fully trust them. And in this line of work it's best not to get too attached to people." Z said from the dressing room.

"Really? What about that lizardin girl Kairaree?" Markus asked with a teasing voice.

"What do you mean? She's another part of the team to fight Xana and get rid of him for good." Z replied, not getting Markus hint.

"I mean, is there something going on between you two, especially when you took a bullet for her when that crime lord Robert shot at her, and not to mention she convinced you to join better then the others did." Markus pointed out to Z.

"What- what do you...? She's a friend, and it only made sense to take a bullet since I was wearing bulletproof armor." Z defended.

"My boy, you are at that age when a young boy or girl starts having feeling for someone else. And you need to find out if those feelings are true or your going to spend the rest of your life wondering if that someone felt the same way about you." Markus went on.

Z forcibly slide the door open and stared at Markus frustrated while wearing his new armor. "I will... never fall in love. I have no place for that in my life" Z said sternly. "I just can't. I've already lost my parents when I was very little, and I never knew what is was like to have a parents love, and I don't want to fall in love only to loose that person." Z said as his tone became somber and sad.

"Alright, alright if that's what you want. But just know, you can't fight instincts, and you can't fight your heart, and don't give me a long winded speech of chemicals in the brain and shit like that. You know what I mean." Markus waged his finger to him. Z just rolled his eyes and grabbed his coat and put it back on.

Just then a voice on the intercoms came up. "Attention guys. We are nearing the mountain and awaiting your orders." The human pilot called.

"We need to head to the radar control. You gather the rest of your friends." Markus said and headed for the radar room.

Z rounded up the rest of his gang and lead them into the radar room where Jeremie, Deotalus, and Markus were waiting for them. All the screens in the room were on, the outer cameras of the plane focused on the dark mountain while some viewed the vast dark forest. Markus picked up a com and talked to the pilots.

"Slow plane speed, switch to hover mode and hold position." Markus ordered.

"Understood. Slowing plane speed and switching to hover mode." The pilot replied. The planes two main engines slowly turned as well the back support engines. Four ports under both the wings opened and activated more smaller engines for more stable support. The plane was over five miles away from the mountain.

"So what's the plan now? Do you think there's a door anywhere?" Odd asked no one in particular.

"Knowing Xana, he's going to show us the way into his base." Ulrich replied. Everyone looked at the monitors showing the mountain as if waiting for something to happen.

()()()()()()()()()()

Xana watched from a floating screen at the plane floating in front of his mountain base. "Now is the time! Launch!" Xana ordered into the open com links to the engineers and control pilots of the base.

()()()()()()()()()()

"No Knulgen, it's a stupid plan and we will all get killed. Do you not understand that?" Aracane shouted at him.

"Oh like you got a better plan then what I have." Knulgen replied as he once again reached for his sword.

"Knock it off Knulgen. Now's not the damn time to fight. We need to be prepared for the worst. Xana could attack at any moment." Kairaree said to the two fighting again.

"Look! Somethings happening to the mountain!" Aelita said and pointed to the mountain. The others looked and saw the mountain began to shake.

()()()()()()()()()

**(A/N: This would be the part where ominous music would begin to play) **

Outside in forest just a little passed noon. The ground began to quake, the trees around the mountain fell to the ground. The animals ran away from the area in swarms. The birds flew away and some flocks almost flew into the plane. The mountain shook even harder and began to break away chunks of rocks and expose metal like structures under the fallen mountain pieces while still having much of the rocky surface still on. A huge blast of wind came out from all around the very base of the mountain. Then the mountain began to slow ascend into the air. Bits of rock fell off the bottom and exposed a dome shaped bottom glowing and slowly spinning as the mountain raised to a high elevation and float northward.

()()()()()()()()()()

"Good fucking gods..." Ralfaius said in shock.

"A floating base... now we know how he will attack a city." Deotalus pointed out.

"I never would have thought Xana was capable of building a base inside a mountain. And now that monster is probably on his way to a city right now just to get back at us." Ulrich gritted through his teeth in anger.

"We need to get in and take that base out from the inside before Xana reaches his target." Leadonus added as well.

"Markus, tell the pilots to fly near the base and look for a way in. We will get inside and take out the base while you and the pilots stay close so we can have a evac when we stop Xana and his plan." Z instructed to his former master.

"Understood. I will stay on the plane and help the planes gunner in case that floating base attacks us. This is going to be hard, but I know you guys have to do it because I know I can't talk you all out of it if I tried." Markus said to them.

"Looks like we won't have to worry about getting in, there's a massive door opening." William said pointing to the monitor. On the front of the lower part of mountain a long open platform extended out. The platform was big enough to have a number of small planes and jets land and load into the base. A massive metal double door slowly opened up with a bright light shining out.

"Would you look at that. Xana rolled out the red carpet for us. Now all we need is a bunch of paparazzi taking pictures of us while we wave." Odd sarcastically joked.

"Joke later, we need to get to the loading bay and hop on the base." Aracane said as everyone began to head to the loading dock. The plane kicked into high-gear to catch up to the floating base as it began to clear the forest.

The gang was ready in the loading dock while they put in they're earpieces and turned on their communications. Alpha took the radio box that connected their signals and tapped in. "I will scan the connection to make sure we stay in touch and so nobody hack into the signal as well" Alpha said to them as he gave Deo the box back and he then put it into the military backpack.

"We're almost to the base entrance. Be ready to jump when the door opens." The pilot said to them on the intercom.

"You heard the pilot. Get ready to jump and run into the base opening before they do a counterattack on us and this plane." Markus said as the planes door bays began to open. The wind rushed in and the gang each held onto a handle strap. They saw the base landing platform just a few feet under them.

"This is it guys! Xana is waiting for us, let's not keep him waiting! Let's get in and fuck him up!" Z shouted. The gang cheered and got ready to jump.

Jeremie turned to Aelita before Alpha absorbed Jeremie into his system. "Aelita, you stay here and we will-" Jeremie tried to explain, but Aelita boldly interrupted him.

"No Jeremie! I am not staying here. I have just as much riding on this as you all do. I need to face Xana and end this once and for all. And there is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind." Aelita said as she crossed her arms in defiance.

"But... It's just that... Fine Aelita, you can come with us. Just stay close to us." Jeremie said in defeat as Alpha wrapped his cables around his body and Jeremie was uploaded into him.

"Now that was amazing. I wish I could feel what that is like." Markus said, witnessing Jeremie being uploaded into Alpha's body.

"Don't worry Jer. We will watch out for her together and she can finish off Xana after we've had our fun shoving our weapons up his ass." Knulgan smiled.

The plane was close enough at the edge of the landing platform to safely jump off. "Let's do this! Let's kill Xana once and for all!" Ulrich shouted with pride. The gang jumped off few at a time and landed with ease.

Z was the last one to jump off the plane. He turned and waved to Markus, and he did the same from the edge of the loading dock. Just then a loud sound was heard as the gang looked up and saw a number of large turrets all over the mountain surface come out from hatches near the landing platform and aimed at the plane. "Markus! Get the hell out of here now and stay in range!" Z shouted out to him as the turrets opened fire on the plane.

The plane quickly flew out of the way of the turrets bullets as Markus held onto the handle while the dock door closed and Markus headed to one of the gun controls deeper inside the plane. The Molknuc woman that was the planes gunner activated the top part of the planes guns on the right side opened and five turrets aimed and fired back in retaliation as the plane got out of range.

"Damn that bastard Xana!" Z shouted as the turrets retracted into the mountain. "He tried to take out our only means of escape." Z said grabbing his mini-assault rifle and loaded a long magazine in.

"Markus and the plane are out of range and safe. Now let's go find Xana and take him out once and for all." Kairaree encouraged him.

"The wind is picking up. The base is moving faster. If we stay out here we could get blown off the this landing platform." Jeremie said to them from inside Alpha.

"Then let's go before they turn those guns on us." Leadonus said to them. The gang ran down the long landing strip and through the massive metal doors and into a hanger bay.

()()()()()()()()()

The gang was in the very belly of the devil, filled with who knows how many enemy troops and to the gangs shock. Many military vehicles. High-tech tanks and even next generation tanks like the ones with elevated bodies that could rise from the track wheels with two gun turrets on the sides of the cockpit and a long barrel on top.

Higher up the massive hanger were thousands of small one-man helicopters meant for quick and powerful attacks. The other type of planes were the kinds meant to carry a number of troops while hovering in the air with there large hover turbines.

"This just isn't a base. This is an attack fortress! This is meant for invasion!" Z said looking around the massive hanger bay filled with tanks and copters and even attack vehicles.

The gang slowly walked into the middle of the take-off strip while still being on the defense and ready for an enemy attack on them.

"So I'm going to just say this. Shouldn't there be guards or something?" Miodelus asked his friends as he looked around for the guards.

"Oh don't worry you little idiot! They are all over the place and waiting for your arrival." A echoing voice called out to them. The gang looked up and saw Ukai standing over them from one of the walkways and looking down on them with a look on his face that wasn't angry, but defiantly not happy to see them either.

"Oh hello there Ukai, nice to see you again." Ulrich mockingly said to the beast.

"Yes it is. The last time we saw you, you were blasted away by my shotgun mode of my laser gun." Alpha added, finally making a joke.

"Oh how I can't wait until the science team tears you apart piece by piece. And I hope that boy is still inside you when they do." Ukai growled at them.

"Phrasing." Knulgen softly joked.

"So what are you doing down here? Are you suppose to show us the way to Xana or something?" Yumi cautiously asked.

"All you need to do is find the main elevators and figure it out yourself you little bitch." Ukai replied smugly at her. Yumi just simply sneered at him.

"Shut-up you ugly as all hell beast!" Jack shouted as he reached for his sword the Excalion. "Where is Xana? He invites us here and then doesn't have the decency of being a good host to introduce himself to us?" Jack asked mockingly.

"Oh don't you worry your highness. Xana will kill you all soon. But first, how bout a little warm-up? I think these Xana soldiers will do." Ukai smiled as a number of ropes flew over the rails and troops in black armor descended down the ropes.

The troops wore black plating armor with white clips and locks with heavy boots and visor covered helmets with various types of weapons. The first groups to land took out long combat machetes while the other group grabbed their assault guns.

"And back in the frying-pan we go." Eli'ton said as he unsheathed his arm-blades while his helmet face cover flipped down over his face.

The gang charged to the swarms of enemies while Aelita hid behind a tank. The enemy troops attacked the gang with their machetes and several of them blocked their attacks. Leadonus did a wide swing and took out three while Jack cut down two with ease and broke their machetes. Bel'la and her weapon overpowered the troops weapons because her staff-blades reach was far greater then their combat machetes and she sliced down four from a safe distance.

Yumi threw two of her fans-blades. The two fans flew and cut into the throats of two troops and fmew back into her hands. She put one away and pulled out her short-sword and stabbed one troop in the chest before he could counter. Aracane took out troops with ease. His ax cut through without effort thanks to the mystic metal infused into his blade and his own mighty strength. Knulgen just simply fought like the wild man he is. Ulrich fought off five on his own. He cut down two of them then cut the leg out from one of them before killing him. He then decapitated the last two.

Odd leaped and slashed down two of them and reached for his bow and quickly fired an arrow into the chest of a troop. Sam blocked and sliced with her bladed tonfas. Alpha opened fire with his gatling-gun lasers while Z fired with his mini-assault rifle. Ralfaius stabbed with his sais. Kairaree stabbed as well and sliced with her chain weapon at the troops entangled in the chain. Eli'ton's armor protected him from their strikes and sliced down the enemy troops. They fought off more and more while Ukai watched from above them.

"These soldiers are some of the best trained killers and they can't even take out a bunch of damn teens." Ukai shook his head in disbelief.

The last of the troops were taken down or ran off. "Don't worry Ukai, we haven't forgotten about you." Ulrich shouted up to the beast. "And when we get up there, we're going to give you a skydiving lesson without a parachute."

"Funny boy, but it won't matter much longer. Xana's attack base is on the way across the ocean to a place called Seadrift City. It will be the first of many places in the world to see the unmatched power of Xana and all his strength and might." Ukai boasted to the gang.

"There's no way Xana can conquer all the nations and cities with just this floating base. Sure it's intimidating, but it's not indestructible. Especially when the nations of the world unite against a worldwide threat to safety and security." Z shouted to Ukai, not believing the beasts threat.

"You stupid kids! Do you really think _this_ is all Xana has to offer? He has many more bases and weapons and troops then you punks can even begin to imagine! The attack on that pitiful city will only be a mere example of his power! Too bad you kids won't be around to see it." Ukai said as he stood up, tired of leaning over the rail.

"We will stop him. And we will sink this base into the ocean along with you and everybody else in here." Leadonus added.

"I doubt that very much boy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the main guns and missiles control room and get ready to blow up so many buildings when the base is in range. I have a nice big chair with tons of control screens and all kinds of fancy controllers in the center of the room. Oh how I can't wait to lead the base attack." Ukai said with a wide smile and began to walk away to a sliding door near the walkway.

"Ukai you monster! Get back here and face us you coward!" Sam shouted in anger from his threat of leading the attack on the city.

"You can all suck my monster balls!" Was the last thing he said to them before the sliding door closed behind him.

"That slimy bastard!" Sam gritted.

"Forget him for now Sam. We need to find Xana first and take him out, then we will stop this base." Odd said, putting a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Odd's right, we take out Xana and the base and Ukai won't have any means to attack." Deotalus added.

"The elevators are just down that way. We can hitch a ride and begin to look around." Aelita said as she came out from hiding.

"Xana must be at the top of the base. I figure someone like him would want a front-row seat to the attack." Jeremie's voice said.

"Then let's not waste anymore time. Move out." Z said to them as he loaded another clip into his mini-assault rifle.

The gang ran down the long center strip of the massive hanger and loaded up on the large open elevator and pressed the up button. The elevator ascended up at a steady speed. The gang was in the internal part of the floating base. They began to see more and more of the base's structure from the open levels from the elevator. There was a number of troops walking around and ready for war. Thankfully they didn't see the gang since they were too far away form them, but they were on high alert looking for them all.

"I think it's best we avoid a fight until we get a better lay of the area. The last thing we need is to be caught off guard in a place like this." Z said to the gang as the elevator ascend into a closed off level of the elevators.

"We also need to assume Xana is watching or every step, so be ready for anything." Aelita added.

Finally the elevator abruptly stopped and the large metal doors opened. The doors lead out to a long and dimly lighted hallway. The gang walked down the hall with caution until they neared another metal sliding door with... smoke? Gently billowing from under the door.

"So... is there a fire or something?" odd asked just as confused as the others.

"We need to proceed with caution. There is no telling what this smoke could mean." Alpha said as he raised his arms and the laser guns came out.

Ulrich pushed the button near the door. The door slid open and the gang walked into the smoke filled room. The smoke was floating at the top of the dark room. Suddenly all the lights flicked on to reveal the room. The room was fairly large and open with many terminal stations and a lot of power junctions on the walls and had a few levels going up with long staircases going up only three steps. The smoke covered the lights on the ceiling but still had the light shine through. The gang walked higher up into the room until they looked over and saw a figure standing at the top of the final level of the stairs and standing in front of the door.

His whole body was covered in armor, he had a strange shaped helmet and a long white coat with the sleeves draped over his shoulders. He had a tall stack on both his shoulders facing slightly backwards with three points in a large 'E' shape, but the top parts were longer and the middle was a little shorter and the last lower one was shorter then the middle. He was smoking a cigar and puffing the smoke into the air and up to the roof.

He paused for a moment and looked at the gang. "Well, Well, Well. You all finally made it. And to think I was about to leave." He said to the gang as he finished his cigar and reached for another.

"You know, chain smoking is bad for you. But I'm sure we can all tell your not normal." Yumi said to the smoking being.

"Ring-a-ding. Give the young lady a prize everyone." The smoker joked. "If you all must know, my name is Smoketay, and you little kiddies and your metal robo buddy, have been somewhat of a pain to my master. Personally I think Xana just needs a vacation to unwind." Smoketay said as he took another puff.

"So what are you doing here and in our way? Did Xana send you to take us out?" Aracane demanded.

Smoketay tapped some of the ash from his cigar before answering. "In a sense, yes. Either I stall you or take all of you out while I deliver your pink-hair friend to Xana." Smoketay pointed to her with his cigar.

"Not going to happen pal. We're going through you whether you like it or not." Odd said as he unsheathed his claws again.

"Yeah pal, there's is nothing you can do about it. What are you going to do? Smoke us to death?" Miodelus mocked as he twirled his nun-chucks, ready to fight.

Smoketay paused from taking a puff and smiled at them. "Actually," He grinned. "That's exactly what I'm going to do." He said as he put the cigar in his mouth and raised his hands. The smoke on the celing began to swirl and fly all over the room and around the gang.

The gang stood ready to fight against the new enemy without even knowing the full extent of his powers and what he is capable of. "Now warriors of Lyoko. I will show you the power of Smoketay The Forte." He smiled at them as the smoke swirled faster and faster above them.

Their new enemy was ready for the attack. The gang knew they need to get pass him to get to where ever Xana is. Smoketay The Forte is one of Xana's most powerful fighters, and the battle against him was only the beginning when they finally face Xana once and for all.

**END CHAPTER.**


	29. SMOKETAY THE FORTE

**CHAPTER 29: SMOKETAY THE FORTE**

The smoke from Smoketay flew down at the gang and they all quickly broke up into small groups as the smoke hit where the whole gang was only moments ago. When the smoke dissipate, the metal floor became nothing but ash with some of the wires and pipes exposed.

"Holy shit!" Knulgen shouted as they all took a look at the destroyed floor and ash pile.

Smoketay stood there and chuckled a little at the whole gangs surprise. "Now you little fools know my power. The power of ashing anything that my smoke touches." Smoketay boasted as he took another long drag from his cigar.

"My analysis shows that he can super heat his smoke to tens of thousands of degrees in an instant and reduce almost anything into ash at a molecular level." Alpha says to them with his diagnostics on Smoketay's power.

"Aw no fair you spoiler. I was hoping the others would try to figure it out." Smoketay said in disappointment. "Well no matter, in the end I will win and you all will fall." Smoketay says as he raised his hand and the smoke above swirled and flew down in several shots all over the place.

Miodelus ducked behind one of the terminals in the room and the smoke blasted right through the monitors and reduced the glass and built in wires to ash. Mio peeked up from his hiding spot and looked at the messy circle made from the smoke. "This would be so cool if he wasn't trying to kill us." Mio says a little freaked out.

More of the smoke flew around the room like snakes on the prowl and flew down at the gang. Ulrich jumped out of the way while Yumi cartwheeled between strikes.

Bel'la and Eli'ton both ducked under a plum of smoke that ashed the wall behind the twins. Aracane leaped over a terminal just in time as the smoke strike and ashed away the terminal.

The other three Surfane brothers split up just in time as a massive smoke plum hit the ground they were just standing at. Jack's sword stood against the smoke as his mystic blade cut through the black smoke. Kairaree flipped down a few of the small stairways as the smoke hit the floor barely missing her.

Z pulled out his SMG and fired at Smoketay, but he only created a wall of smoke in front of him and the bullets turned to ash in flight.

The doors behind Smoketay opened and he ran out with a trail of smoke behind him. "We need to go after him. That bastards got something going." Knulgen said as he ran for the door.

"Hold your sword Knulgen. We don't know what he's planning for us." Jack says as he gets in front of him before exiting the room.

"Jack's right, someone that powerful doesn't just flee because of a few bullets. He's got something up his unworn sleeve." Kairaree added.

"We will pursuit with caution. But we need to expect the worse to happen when we find him." Alpha says to them as his laser guns unfolded out of his hands.

"Stay close Aelita, who knows what they got planned for us." Jeremie's voice said to her as they all joined up and went down the massive hall.

They all stayed close and took points to make sure they don't get ambushed from behind or the sides. The search for Smoketay kept the gang on edge as they walked the quite halls of the massive floating fortress with the slight hum of the bright lights on the roof. It was far too quite for them and they knew that every step could lead them closer to a possible trap against who knows what. Finally the gang walked out into a massive area that was plain and looked like some kind of training room with an open level above and a number of doors at the top and bottom levels.

"Why does this place have a training room? It's so strange." Sam says to them curiously.

"Let's just say, the men could the extra training every now and then." Smoketay called out to them from the level above. The gang looked up and spotted him as he jumped down the tall level and landed with barely a thud to their level. "Also this place is where the top generals promote their men to different ranks and troop types depending on what training they had." He continued as he tapped his cigars ashes off.

"So now your wanting to fight instead of run?" Ralfaius said as he twirled his sais.

"Yes... and I invite some friends of my own to the party as well." Smoketay says to them as the top doors opened and ten black armored troops with assault rifles spread out through the top and aimed at the gang.

The doors at the gangs level slide open and troops with black armor, but white plating on the arms and legs. They carried wide and long riot shields with a look through visors near the top on their left arms. They then reached for the weapons on their backs and draw a long straight sword with a one blade side. The swords had a modern military look to the weapons instead. And the most common thing about all the troops is they all had Xana's symbol in the center of their chests.

The sword squad charged at the gang with their swords held back and their shields raised. Alpha blasted away at the troops at the top level to draw the enemy fire from the gang while they fight the ones with sword and shields.

Z aimed with his assault mini-rifle and fired at the troops on top to assist Alpha. The barrel spun as bullets flied out from the large clip. The troops ducked down but not before two were taken out by Alpha and Z from their guns.

Aracane blocked a blow from a troops shield with his ax as their weapons clashed and bounced back from the backlash. Aracane blocked the troops swings while the troop stayed behind his shield. Aracane couldn't help but admire the irony. The sword troop swung his blade but Aracane ducked down just in time and drove his ax into the mans shield and into where his arm is. The man yelled in pain through his helmeted head as his severed hand still hanged in its handle while the other part of his arm still through the other handle as blood poured out which gave Aracane the opening he needed and drove his ax through his visor covered helmet and killed the troop.

Deotalus strike over and over, but his trident couldn't get through the shield as the sword troop took a swing at him every now and then. Deo rolled under another swing and thrust with the trident. The troop swung his shield around and blocked Deo's trident again, but Deo quickly rolled back as the troop swung down on him as Deo finally got the troops sword caught in his trident and flung the mans weapon out of his hand and speared the troop through the neck.

Odd grabbed his bow fired his arrows at the sword troop that was after him, but the troop blocked with his shield which is just what Odd wanted as the troop got close enough and Odd leaped at the man. The sword troop raised his shield high and Odd leaped over it and cast his bow aside and flicked his claws out and landed behind the man and delivered two long slashes through the mans armored back before he could fully turn around.

Sam attacked with her blade and blunt tonfas. She kept her pace by at the troop by contentiously attacking and forcing the sword troop to keep his guard up in the process. Sam then drove the long side blade of her tonfa into the troops riot shield visor and throwing him off guard as Sam then used her blunt tonfa and shattered the mans helmet visor as she then let go of her blade tonfa and draw the other one and did a spin swing and slashed at the neck and killed him. She then sheathed her blunt tonfa and pulled out the other bladed one from the shield and joined up with the rest.

Miodelus took out his three-section-staff and attacked a troop that blocked his staffs attacks with the riot shield. Mio then pulled his staff back and held all three sections in hand and attacked the troop head on. Mio took wild swings with his bare fist while the troop swing with his sword. Mio then slid under the troop between his legs and as he got under and behind, Mio flicked a switch on one of his staffs end and a long blade sprang out from the bottom. Mio then stabbed the man right in the spine near the waist and the man yelled in pain as he fell to his knees. Mio then unfolded the staff and sprang out another blade on the other end and stabbed the man in the back of his neck and ending him quick and pulled both blades out.

Several of the others were fighting Smoketay head on. Ulrich sliced at him with a hard grunt while Yumi threw two of her fan-blades at him. Smoketay ducked and dodged both attacks as Knulgen leaped at him from behind, but Smoketay spun around him and pushed Knulgen away as Leadonus scythe barely missed Smoketay's head but just simply side-stepped for Lea's swing.

Bel'la then took her chance and jabbed away at Smoketay with her blade-staff, but he only kept sidestepping before grabbing the staff handle and held it firm and gave his back an opening. Eli'ton then came up from behind and tried to stab from behind but Smoketay stepped out of the way and shoved him into her direction with his free hand. The twins almost ran into each other but thankfully missed each other and more importantly their weapons paths.

"This son of a bitch is fucking with us. He's pretty damn good with his fucking hands." Knulgen said as he got himself ready for another attack.

"You are right, not only do I have power over smoke, I am also a master of hand-to-hand combat." Smoketay answered Knulgen as he raised his hands.

"Let's see how good you are with this." Kairaree shouted at him as her chain flew at him. Smoketay raised his hands as her chain wrapped around his gauntlet like arm. She then threw the blade end and Smoketay grabbed it only to leave him open as Ralfaius stabbed Smoketay's side with his prong blades, but only nicked him and left two scratches.

Smoketay managed to get himself untangled from the chain before Ral could do more damage. "Excellent! It's been such a long time since I had such a great challenge." Smoketay says to them with a wide grin as he held the cigar with his gray teeth. "Now young warriors, give me everything you all got!" Smoketay said as thick black smoke poured out from his stacks and spread throughout the room.

Z and Alpha finally gunned down the rest of the troops at the top level. The fight wasn't easy, but Z cleverly took cover behind Alpha as the mighty robot knelled down to give Z better cover from enemy fire. Z fired off the last few rounds and downed a troop from his assault mini-rifle and loaded a new long clip in. The two then noticed that the room was filling with black smoke.

The other sword troops huddled with Smoketay as several more entered the room and joined up with them. The gang also grouped up and got ready for the worst as the smoke made a wall in front of Smoketay and his sword troops. Z aimed his assault mini-rifle and opened fire in a wide sweep until the new clip was empty.

The gang stood there ready as the smoke slowly dissipated and Smoketay and the troops were gone. "Aw dammit! Where did they go now?" Knulgen says to them.

"I don't know Knulgen, but it may have something to do with that open door right where Smoketay and his men were moments ago." Z answered him as he pointed to the open door with only bullet holes on the walls.

"He must be leading us into another trap. Who knows what he's got planned." Aelita said to them.

"Then let's go in and take them on and snuff out that smoking jerk." William says as he slings his sword over his right shoulder.

The gang ran down the long gray hall ready for any possible counterattacks against the many enemies in the whole floating base. As they ran they kept taking turns throughout the wide hallways since they had no clue on where Smoketay and his men went.

"We're running around in circles. Where the hell are they in this massive fortress?" Eli'ton says as they turn another corner and down another hall.

A large door opened across from them and five troops with LMG's walked out and opened fire on the gang. They quickly dived back into the hall while Alpha just stood there as the bullets clicked off his armor without even a scratch.

"I don't know why they even bother Alpha." Jeremies voice says to Alpha as the troops continued to fire until they finally ran out of bullets from their high-capacity clips. The sound of the empty clips clicking was heard as Alpha raised both his arms and opened fire on the troops and took them down with a quick spray of lasers as their bloody bodies fell to the ground.

The others walked out from their hiding place and walked up to Alpha. Miodelus slipped a little on the dented bullets that clinked off Alpha's armor and landed on the ground. "I think from now on we should just stand behind you since you can take the punch." Odd suggested to the robot.

"I was being fired upon by bullets. No punches were being made on me. Punching me would be highly ineffective against my metal armor." Alpha replied to him, still not getting jokes.

"We're still just running around in circles. We could be in here for days and still not find Smoketay, let alone Xana who could be watching us." Odd says to them as he looks around the area.

"Look, whats that?" Aelita said as she pointed down the hall. The gang turned and saw a small plum of smoke just wafting in the hall.

"It must be Smoketay, he's probably leading us to where he is." Z says as he slung his rifle and took out his carbine rifle.

The gang slowly approached the smoke and turned into the hall only to see a long gray stream of smoke near the wall. The gang then began to follow the smoke down the hall as it seemed to just stay there in midair in a steady but drifting line. The gang turned another corner and almost reached the middle of the hall as a round plate on the floor spun and a turret popped up. The twin barrels sprang out and opened fire. Jack reacted quickly and held out both his hands and created a barrier of clear blue energy just in time as the large bullets clashed and burst against the shield. The others breathed a sigh of relief to Jack's quick thinking.

Jack rested his hands against his knees and took deep breaths. "Jack, are you all right? You look exhausted." Aelita said with concern as she went over to him.

"I'm fine Aelita. I'm just winded because I caste a powerful barrier spell without an incantation. And casting spells without using incantations is advanced magic." Jack explained as he got his energy back and leaned up.

"Can people walk out on the other side of the barrier?" Alpha asked him.

"Actually yes, that's what the spell is meant for. Why do you ask?" Jack asks with curiosity.

"You will see in just a moment." Alpha replied as he passed through the barrier and charged after the turret as it blasted away at him. Alpha grabbed the still firing turret and ripped it out of the floor with the cables and ammo-belt still connected to it. On the other end of the hall a dozen troops ran into view and aimed at Alpha. The powerful robot Alpha turned the still firing turret and aimed at the troops as the large bullets tore into the troops and ended them quick before Alpha finally tore the rest of the turret out of the floor and silenced the weapon and tossed it aside.

The barrier faded away and the others joined up with Alpha. "Great job Al. You took out that turret like it was made of tin." Ulrich said to him.

"The turret is made of multiple materials but has no tin in it." Alpha corrected him.

"Let's just keep going down the halls and find Smoketay." Deotalus says to get everyone back on track.

With the danger gone the gang continued following the smoke plum while unaware they were being watched by the many cameras hidden throughout the floating fortress.

()()()()()()()()()()

In Xana's pitch black room, Xana watched the gang with many floating screens in front of him. His symbol floated in the dark but seemed to be watching the gang very closely as screen after screen closed and reopened with new images of the gang from different angles.

"The fools come ever deeper into my domain. Soon I will have them, and I will end them all here and forever. And as for you Aelita..." Xana paused as he made a screen with Aelita's image on it zoom in. "When I get my hands on you, I will make you know that there are worse things then death. I will make your suffering a hell like no other!" Xana said as his symbol burned bright red.

()()()()()()()()()

Knulgen face-kicked a troop right in his visor covered face and knocked the troop to the ground as he swung his sword and loped off three troops heads in one swing as the heads and bodies fell to the ground with loud thuds and stabbed his blade through the helmet of the troop he kicked down.

Leadonus arched his scythe and swung the blade behind a troops neck and pulled the staff and decapitated the troop in one clean pull then swung his scythe around and stabbed through a sword troops shield and into his chest.

Ralfaius threw his sai into the barrel of a gun troops assault rifle just as he pulled the trigger and the backfire from the gun injured the troop and made him fall to the floor as Ral leaped at him and stabbed the man in his neck and ended him quick with a spurt of blood in his face.

Kairaree jumped over a troop who barely missed her with his gun as she slacked her chain and wrapped it around his neck and landed behind him. She pulled on the chain and choked the troop as he dropped his rifle and tried to fight against her pull. Kairaree put her booted foot against his armored back and pulled as the troop struggled against the chain until Kairaree made a powerful tug and snapped his neck. The troop fell to the ground dead as Kai unwrapped her chain and joined up with the others.

William swing his butcher sword and brutally cut through two troops with ease from the heavy weapon. Another sword troop attacked him from behind, but he quickly turned and ran his sword right through the shield and into the troops body and pulled his sword out as blood sprayed out.

Ulrich leaped at two troops and cut off ones head and split the other ones head in half right through his helmet with a spray of blood on the walls.

Z fired his carbine rifle with the full-metal jacket rounds. The bullets punched right through the troops armor as Z fired again and hit a troop right in his visor helmet and fired another round into a troops neck before they could even aim. Four more came in and Z fired away and emptied the clip and loaded a new one in a flash and fired again.

Deotalus stabbed his trident into a sword troops neck and slammed another one through his helmet with the heavy end of his trident staff. He pulled the trident head out and sliced another troop across the neck.

Eli'ton blocked two troops swords with his arm gauntlets and pushed them away and attacked. He thrust his left arm-blade only to hit the shield as the other sword troop attacked him from behind. He quickly blocked with his other arm-blade and attacked the sword troop with both arms and managed to get pass the troops sword and drive both his arm-blades into the sword troops body as the other one attacked Eli'ton from behind. Eli'ton quickly picked up the sword and thrust it at the troop and through his gut and ended the sword troop and only managed to clip Eli'tons chest armor without even a scratch to it.

Odd fired his arrows at a troop and got him right in the neck as he fired another arrow and pierced right through the troops helmet. Odd then put his bow away and flicked out his claws as a sword troop came at him. Odd ran and slid right between the troops legs and slashed his legs with deep cuts. The troop fell to his knees as Odd leaped up and drove his blades into the troops back.

"This is pointless. We're just going to get tired before we find Smoketay and run into more traps." Ulrich says as he flicks the blood off his blades.

"We still don't have any choice but to follow his smoke trail. I figure he's going to want to fight us head on anyway." Deotalus pointed out.

"I will keep scanning ahead in case there are more enemy forces waiting for us." Alpha said to them as his scanners turned on.

"Let's just find Smoketay and put an end to him. I want to put his cigar out in his eye." Z said as he took out his mini uzis and cocked them.

The gang returned to following the smoke trail down the long halls of the floating fortress. They ran further down the halls until they came across a closed door and approached it slowly. Z took point with his guns and Alpha stood next to him with his laser guns ready.

Ulrich walked over to the control next to the door and pressed the button and the doors slide open. The gang slowly walked out and noticed they were in a massive storage a level below them. They looked down and noticed a few troops here and there. They looked over and saw the smoke trail going off to the left and down a open flight of stairs without steps.

"Smoketay must be in this room, but we can't see him with all these crates in the way." Ralfaius says to them as he looked over the room.

"In that case, I'll take the first shot and get their attention." Z said as he looked down and saw four troops below them and jumped down with his uzis in hand. Before the others could stop him Z was already over the rail and landed on his right foot in the center of the troops. The troops reacted and turned to him as Z raised his uzis and fired away. The troops yelled in pain as Z fired his large clip guns as he kept switching targets, shooting only two at a time for a few moments before turning to the other two and kept repeating the attack as the troops bodies twitched and staggered until Z was finally out of ammo and the troops were done for.

The rest of the troops heard the commotion and ran to the area. "Alright guys, last person to kill the least is the loser." Knulgen smiled at the gang as he jumped over the rails and plunged his sword into an unexpected troops back and landed right on him with a loud thud. The others joined up by running to the stairs and ran down.

Two troops ran up the stairs as Yumi threw her fan-blade at one and her short sword at the other. The sword flew into a troops neck and the troop fell to the ground dead as her flying fan-blade strike another troop in his helmeted head and fell off the stairs at the side. Yumi took out her folding-shield and held it in her left arm as she caught the fan-blade and put it away before retrieving her short sword and reached the bottom level.

They spread out and got in a defense position as more troops ran to the gang. Aracane ran to a stack of metal crates and rammed right into the stack. The metal crates fell on several troops and incapacitated them for good.

Miodelus took out his nun-chucks and strike at a troop right in his visor helmet and shattered it then flicked the switch on the end he was holding and the blade sprang out and stabbed the troop in his exposed face in one quick sweep.

Leadonus sheathed his scythe on his back and pulled out his combat sickles and went after two troops. He jumped and drove one sickle into a troops neck and leaped over the dying troop with the sickle still in and slashed another across the neck.

Z fired at more incoming troops with his uzis and took down the troops until he was finally out of uzi ammo and took out his SMG and looked through the electronic scope and gunned down troops in quick bursts with amazing precision.

Ulrich sliced down another troop with his blades. He then glanced over and saw a plum of black smoke shoot his way and quickly leaped out of the way as the smoke hit a stack of crates and reduced it to ashes. "So now you show yourself after we took down so many of your troops." Ulrich says to him as Smoketay was lighting another cigar and took a deep drag.

He walked into better view for the others to see him as smoke gently billowed out of his smoke stacks on his shoulders with his elegant coat still slung over his shoulders and not wearing the sleeves. "What's the matter young warriors? Don't you all know that a good warmup is great for your heart?" Smoketay asked them.

"Look who's talking! You've smoked over a dozen cigars since we came in contact with you." Yumi pointed out to him.

"That's because I can breathe pure smoke like you all breathe oxygen. Plus I just love the flavorful cigars that I get. This one is Margiku tobacco, very expensive." Smoketay said as he pointed to his cigar in his hand.

"Get him now guys before he runs away again." Knulgen shouted to them as he charged after Smoketay while cutting down any troops that got in his way. The others joined up with him because they knew he was going to get in over his head.

Smoketay turned from them and ran towards a wall in the middle of the large room with a few stacks of crates and ten sword troops. He then turned around and waited for the gang. The young warriors and Alpha stopped about fifteen feet from him and the other sword troops standing around Smoketay with their shields up and their swords ready.

The gang stood there and waited for Smoketay and his attack. "There's nowhere to run now Smoketay. Prepare to get your head cut off." Aracane said as he raised his ax.

"Same here you jack-off." Knulgen smiled with his sword held back and ready to strike.

Smoketay just smiled at the gang as the floor below them shook. The gang looked down and saw the floor begin to slide up in a large square and on the wall behind Smoketay opened to show a large track as the floor they are standing on began to go up. The gang realized that the area was cargo lift and the roof above them slide open. The elevator passed through and the gang saw the many tracks and lift that go throughout the fortress.

"My god! This is a lot like the trams in sector five, but just gray and plain." Yumi said as she looked around.

The others were also amazed of the area. They all saw many elevator lifts and cranes carrying missiles to various locations. On the other lifts had troops armed and going to stationed locations on the base. Other lifts had stacks of crates with troops driving dolly vehicles. One lift even had a black tank with several troops standing around it.

"This place really is ready for war. And Ukai is sitting in the main missile control waiting for the cannons to be loaded by the missile carriers." Z says to the gang slightly shocked at the well organized fortress.

"Yes, that trigger happy beast is too predictable. Especially when it comes to blowing things up." Smoketay replied as he took another puff from his cigar. "Now men, please rough them up a little." Smoketay ordered as the sword troops charged after the gang.

Z fired his SMG at one troop but the enemy kneel down and raised his shield and the bullets just hit it as Z charged while still firing. He then ran out of ammo and grabbed one of his forward curved machetes and sliced at the troop while the enemy just used his shield and blocked. Z quickly threw his SMG at the troop and the troop reacted and blocked the weapon as Z then lunged at him and used the curved weapon and stabbed the sword troop in the side and killed him quick.

Odd fired an arrow in one quick movement at a sword troop that was coming at him. The troop raised his shield, but Odd's arrow punched right through the visor and into the troops helmeted head and fell to the ground with the shield still up with the arrow through the visor.

Aracane leaped and severed two troops heads right off in one mighty blow while Leadonus tripped a troop with his scythe blade and made a deep gash in his legs as Leadonus then raised his scythe and drove the blade into the troops body.

Yumi went one-on-one with a troop. She blocked his sword with her round folding shield and lashed when she could with her short sword. The troops blade made stronger impacts against her shield, but Yumi stood against it as she then took another blow and used the chance to get closer to the enemy troop since her short gave her the edge and stabbed the man right in the chest and ended him quick.

Ralfaius forced a troop to the edge of the elevator with his prong knives as the troop blocked with his shield until the troop was close enough as Ral then leaped kick the troop right off the elevator with only the sound of his screaming as the troop fell.

Bel'la swung her staff-blade at the sword troop while he simply blocked her attacks. Bel'la then used the bottom of her staff and pole vaulted over the troop with her staff in hand near the hilt of the blade. She then landed and behind the troop and stabbed the blade into the troops back with a spray of blood on her face.

Another lift came up next to them on the left side. The gang was near the left side while Smoketay stood there on the right side with a wide grin while still smoking a cigar as the last two sword troops stood next to him as the gang stood in wonder of what Smoketay is up to. The gang looked over and saw on the other ram over twenty feet from them was female assassins in full body armor. The armor was sleek and shiny with elevated heels and light black in color with light green colors on the hands, feet and heels, a streak going down the backs, strips on the helmets, chest, and abdomens. On their backs were long curved swords in black sheaths.

The female assassins leaped from their open elevator and landed in the middle of the platform the gang was on. Their was six of them as they stood up and drew their curved blades and stood in a battle position and ready to attack the gang. Three of the assassin leaped at the gang as Ulrich, Knulgen, and Bel'la took the charge and clashed with the assassins and their weapons.

Ulrich held his sabers against the assassin and her blades. Knulgen held his sword up against the assassin with a wide grin against the challenge. Bel'la had the advantage of staying out of the assassins swords with her staff-blade but the assassin was stronger then she looked as Bel'la held the swords back.

Ulrich quickly kicked his assassin away and slashed at her while Knulgen unlocked their hold and attacked his assassin with wild and crazy swings. Bel'la twisted her staff-blade and swing her long weapon at her assassin to keep her back and thrust and finally made contact and drove the blade all the way through. Knulgen leaped up and slashed his assassin and got her across the chest and ended her quick. Ulrich managed to disarm his assassin blades and slashed twice with fatal gashes.

The other three assassins attacked from behind the gang while they were distracted. Z quickly turned and grabbed his shotgun and fired a grenade from the attachable launcher and blew an assassin away. There was no sign of the body anywhere when the smoke cleared, hopefully the body was blown off the lift. Alpha gunned down another assassin that climbed and leaped from a stack of crates. His gatling-gun lasers tore into the assassins body and fell to the ground dead.

The other assassin joined up with Smoketay and the last two sword troops as the lift continued to rise up through the massive cargo lifts. Smoketay just puffed away and stood there in the corner of the lift. The gang gathered together back on the other end and got ready for any other surprises.

"What are you smiling about? What do you got planned now?" Ulrich demanded to the smoking being.

"Just wait young warriors, you will all see soon enough." Smoketay smiled at them before lighting another cigar. The gang realized that they were just going to have to wait, but they still kept their guard up in case Smoketay had something planned.

The cargo lift continued up it's path which seemed to last for hours until the lift came to a complete stop in the middle of nowhere on the massive tram lifts. The gang clutched their weapons thinking that Smoketay was finally up to something. Just as the gang got ready to fight, they heard a loud sound and turned to the source.

Two long crane arms started reaching out to the other side of the lift and attached while locking in place. The other side near the lift wall detached as the other arm lifts pulled the cargo lift to the other side and attached to the other wall.

The gang was completely clueless of what Smoketay's up to. The lift went up on the other side of the tram and the gang continued to wait again as the lift went up a new path separate from the other trams and lifts. The area got darker and darker until finally the gang looked up and a opening could be seen. The massive metal doors opened big enough for the cargo lift to fit in perfectly.

They reached the opening and the lift locked in place and the gang and Smoketay were in a whole new room. The area was very wide and open and resemble a massive hallway that was light gray and white in colors with a metal plated path that lead straight to a large elevator with glass and metal framed windows.

"What is this place Smoketay? What do you got planned now?" Z demanded as he cocked his shotgun and loaded another grenade in the launcher.

Smoketay looked to his remaining troops and nodded to them. The two sword troops and last female assassin bowed to him and they turned and left the room through another opening near the walls. Smoketay then raised his hand and pointed to the elevator with his thumb. "That elevator you kids see over there."

"What about it?" Knulgen sneered with his sword ready.

"That elevator leads straight to Xana's room." He answered with a puff of his cigar. "He's in there waiting for you kids to come and say hello, that is, if you kids could get passed me." Smoketay smiled.

"Yeah right, your just going to runaway again after we smack you around a little." Ralfaius said while twirling his sais.

"Nah... running's gotten too boring for me now. I will stand my ground and fight you young warriors head on." Smoketay said as smoke began to pour out of his smokestacks.

The gang spread out and some even took cover behind some of the crates that was on the lift. A plum of smoke went after Ulrich and Yumi. The two quickly grabbed a crate together and threw it right in the smokes path and turned the crate into ash and scatter to the floor.

More smoke flew around the room and gang simply had no means of fighting smoke that could turn anything it touched into a pile of ashes. The smoke swirled around the roof and shot down at the gang. One smoke plum almost hit Z, but he dodged it just barely and ashed the corner end of his coat while Leadonus leaped over some crates that got hit by the ash.

Aelita was separated from the others as she hid behind a stack of crates. A plum of smoke hit the crates she was hiding behind ashed away as she leaped from her hiding spot just in time. Another smoke plum flew towards her and Aelita raised her arms up and prepared for the worst.

Smoketay's eyes went wide as he waved his hand and made the smoke dissipate away. Aelita lowered her arms and looked over to Smoketay. The others didn't notice what had just happened, but Aelita just then figured out that Smoketay was not suppose to hurt her at all and came up with a plan to use that against him.

Aracane attacked with wild swings with his double headed ax while Knulgen attacked from behind. Smoketay once again side-stepped from their attacks. He ducked from Kairaree's chain weapon while dodging Bel'la staff-blades thrust. He then leaped back from Odd's claw slashes and Ulrich's sabers.

Fighting Smoketay proved to be far more difficult then they thought. The others focused on dodging Smoketay's smoke while switching when they could to fight him. Their fight seemed to go on in a pointless cycle against him.

"You kids are starting to bore me. I thought you all had a better fight in you then this. At this rate, I will be out of cigars." Smoketay says to them with boredom in his voice.

"Stop with the smokescreens and fight us head on then." Knulgen shouted at him while running from a smoke plum chasing him.

"What's the matter Smokey? Can't fight us without your smoke tricks?" Ulrich added while pointing his saber at him.

"Yeah tough guy! Show us that you can fight us without your smoke doing most of the work." Miodelus mocked while shaking his rear at him.

Smoketay's smug grin turned to an angered glare as he waved his hand. All the smoke dissipated away while he stood there. "You all want me to fight you head on? Well then... I'll give you all your wish." He said as the smoke swirled around his hands.

"Somehow I think we are going to regret making him angry guys." Deotalus says to them with worry.

The smoke wrapped around his fists in large billowing orb like forms with smoke pluming at the sides. "It's been a long time since I used these. I call them my smoking fists." The gang didn't look at all impressed by the name. "Yes I know it's not the most brilliant name, but the point is that my hand-to-hand skills are now more deadly then they used to be." He says to them as he raised his fist.

He slammed his fist into the floor and turned it into ashes in a wide circle under his armored feet. He stood up and smiled at them with the cigar in his mouth slowly burning away. He leaped an incredible distance through the room and landed very near the gang. He started swinging his fists at the gang with wild sweeps and streaks of dangerous smoke.

Z raised his carbine rifle in defense just as Smoketay grabbed the gun and broke it in half as the ash burned right through it. The smoke ashed the gun and Z quickly threw the two pieces away just as the ashing reached the handle and barrel ends of his gun.

Leadonus tried to strike him from behind, but Smoketay ducked and kicked at Lea as he retreated back from the smoking mans kicks. Yumi threw two of her fan-blades at his face as one fan skimmed the edge of his cigars ash, but missed inflicting any harm to him.

William held the end of his handle hard and spun around while raising the blade up and let it go and fly right towards Smoketay. He saw the blade coming and quickly limbo just as the blade reached him, the sword didn't even nick his pipes on his shoulders. Smoketay's hands hit the ground and ashed the floor away and quickly leaped up before destroying anymore of the floor with only more cables and pipes exposed.

"We can't fight him like this. We can't even touch him without getting in range of his ashing powers." Aelita said to herself. She watched her friends fight with all their might against him. "He could have killed me awhile ago, but he stopped his smoke from doing it. He must not be allowed to harm me? That's it! If I put myself in his path, he wont be able to harm my friends." A wide smile came across her face as she came up with an idea.

Smoketay focused on Ulrich. He kept forcing Ulrich back while blowing large plums of smoke from his stacks at his friends that tried to help. With his friends blocked off and him alone against Smoketay and his deadly smoke fists as is chances of surviving were getting slim. Finally Ulrich hit the wall and he knew he was done for as Smoketay stood only a foot from him.

"Well I guess you're the first on my list. You put up a good fight, but now I need to end this." Smoketay says to him with a puff from his cigar and raised his smoking fist, ready to strike.

"Ulrich no! Get out of there!" Yumi called out to him as a billow of smokes block her and the others off from him.

Smoketay's fist seemed to slow down as it inched closer and closer to his face as Ulrich feared this was the end. "What about me Smoketay? How about you take me out first?" Aelita yelled as she leaped right in between Ulrich and Smoketay with her arms spread out.

Smoketay dropped his cigar in shock as he canceled out his smoke fist and hit the wall right next to Ulrich's head. Ulrich took this opportunity and passed around Aelita and sliced him in his left shoulder. Smoketay leaped back from the pain and clutched his bleeding wound that poured out almost blackish and gray red blood.

The others took the opportunity and attacked. Yumi threw her fan-blade and gashed him in his metal like face. Sam leaped at him and strike him in the face with her blunt tonfa. Aracane swung his ax and hit him in the armored abs and made a deep slash. Knulgen took his turn and sliced him across the back with his sword. Leadonus hooked Smoketay over his right shoulder and pulled him to the ground while making a deep cut.

William ran over and grabbed him by the collar of his coat and pulled him up and struck him with his butcher sword, which made Smoketay stagger back as Miodelus came and leaped-kicked him, then struck with his nun-chucks blade, followed by Deotalus swinging his trident and hit him in the back while Ralfaius stabbed him in his side hard with his sais as Odd and leaped and kicked him in the chest as the twins Bel'la and Eli'ton took their turn and slashed him with their weapons together while Kairaree leaped and struck him with her chain weapon hard.

Smoketay head was spinning and the room was flying around as Alpha charged up to him. "This ends now!" Alpha said as he grabbed Smoketay by the face and threw him up in the air. Alpha put his arms together and made the super blast cannons come out from his wrist as his hands slid into his forearms. The cannon charged and blasted Smoketay hard in the chest with the red lasers. He yelled in pain and slammed into the wall on the other side of the room and fell to the ground with his pipes all bent and his armor scuffed and burned.

"And now for the finisher." Jack said as he slammed his hands to the ground. White light glowed around his hands and the light ran in a path like veins to where Smoketay was and up the wall and to the roof.

The metal plating's broke and crumbled away as Smoketay looked up. He was on his knees with a look of defeat on his face. "Well this is going to ruin my night..." He simply said as the plating's and cables fell on him. The crashing of the roofing and wall panels collapsed and piled on him. Tons and tons of internal cables and other roof equipment fell on him in a large pile. The gang had won against Smoketay.

"We did it! We kicked his smoking ass!" Knulgen cheered.

"That was a risky stunt you did there Aelita. Please don't ever do that again!" Jeremie's voice said to her from within Alpha a little freaked out at her actions.

"I figured it was the only way to get him opened. He could have killed me awhile ago, but he made his smoke turn away. So I figured I could use that against him." Aelita said as she smiled at her while they regrouped.

"Well whatever the reason, that a pretty good idea Lita." Sam says to her as she put a arm around her shoulder and gave her a one arm hug.

"Now that he's dealt with, let's go say hi to Xana and end this once and for all." Z said to them as he pulled out his shotgun again.

"Yes, let us end this." Aelita said as they all headed for the elevator. The glass and metal doors slid open and the gang cautiously walked on. There was a button flashing near the door and Odd walked over and pressed it. The massive elevator slowly started descending up to where Xana is waiting.

As the gang disappeared from sight on the elevator, the pile of metal plating's and parts shuffled around as Smoketay pushed the roofing pieces away and emerged from the debris. His pipes were twisted and bent up. He closed his eyes and concentrated. The pipes began to slowly move on their own as the brass like stacks bent back in it's normal shape and position.

Smoketay then patted around in his coat until he found a cigar and lit it up. He took a few drags. "Well it looks like I got beat this time. That hasn't happened in a long time. Those kids are just lucky I didn't have my Smoke Organ Pipes, or they would really have been in trouble." He said to himself as he tapped the ashes off his cigar. "Oh well, it was a good fight anyway." Smoketay chuckled. He got up and climbed out of the debris. His coat and armor body was all scuffed and damaged, but to him it was only minor inflictions. He went on with his business and waited in anticipation on what will come out of all of this.

The gang wait patiently as the elevator went up. They were heading into the devils domain and they needed to fight him and defeat him. They didn't know what was in store for them, but they will fight together as one against him and anything he has planned for them. They all stood around Aelita for support since she was affected by Xana the most for all the things he has done to her, but Aelita knew her friends will stand by her and each other to the bitter end. The battle against Xana is soon to come.

**END CHAPTER.**


	30. XANA THE EVIL

**CHAPTER 30: XANA THE EVIL**

DAY 20

The ride on the elevator was quiet. The gang took the moment to rest and calm down. Several of them leaned against the glass walls while others just stood there. Odd even sat down and lied against the wall while Z readied his guns. He still had a lot of ammo for his handguns, half of the SMG ammo and plenty of shotgun shells and a few more long clips of assault mini-rifle ammo. Unknown to the gang, a great deal of Earth was watching, including their parents and students as well.

"Well guys, we've come a long way. Now let's show Xana what we're made of." Ulrich said to them for encouragement.

"Hey what time is it anyway?" Miodelus asked them while scratching his head.

"It is 12:10 am in the morning." Alpha says to Mio to answer his question.

"You guys know what this means?" Yumi asked her friends. "We've been on this planet for over twenty days, finding new warriors and joining together to defeat Xana." She answered them as she thought over the last few weeks.

"It's been a wild ride, but we're not going to let Xana end it here either." Sam boasted to her friends.

"I've also done a GPS scan and have calculated that this base still has a few hundred miles to go before reaching Seadrift City that Xana will attack. Time is of the essence." Alpha added.

"Then let's make sure he doesn't reach it. Because when we're done with him, we need to sink this base into the ocean with him." William said as he got ready. He was doing his the best he could to keep calm after all he's been through being Xana's slave.

The elevator began to slow down until it stopped. The other door behind them slid open to a dark room. A row of lights turned on and illuminated a small part of the room. The gang took looked around and slowly walked out of the elevator. The doors closed behind them and another row of lights turned on. The roof above them was very high. The floors, walls, and roof were light gray in color and the panels were all different shapes and sizes of squares, making the whole massive room paneling an odd pattern.

The gang kept walking straight down with the row of lights turning on as they got closer and closer to the end of the room. Finally the gang reached the end of the room and stopped. The very end wall of the room was a elevated platform with a large throne seat that looked both menacing and intimidating. Above the throne, high on the wall is a large round panel that looked big enough for a person to fit through with ease.

The gang stopped only a few feet from the elevated floor and looked around the fully lighted room in a long line, side by side. The round panel above them spiraled open. The gang got ready for what was to come. In the opening two figures floated out. their forms drifted in a way that looked like static and fading from view. They stopped in midair and gently floated down with a vanishing trail of their bodies. They landed gently on their feet without even moving at all through the whole ordeal, stiff as a statue and just as cold. The gang was finally standing in front of Xana, their old and evil enemy. Next to Xana was a four-legged machine that looked like a robotic Wolf.

The whole gang clutched their weapons hard. Ready for him to attack. Xana stood tall and strong. He was seven feet tall with wide shoulders. His whole body looked like a muscle suit with interwoven armor plating with shades of light black and dark gray. Around his waist was a belt like garment that was dark yellow in color with small rectangle shapes. On his shoulders was large, long metal pads with a blood red cape that covered his whole arms from view. The lower part of his legs are large and heavy and almost like armored leg grieves with points at the knees. His head was the most fearsome part. Right on his face was his very symbol, glowing with a faint red.

Between the center dot of his symbol were white eyes with red and black irises. His eyes didn't interfere with his symbols circle pattern as if he was wearing a transparent mask. The rest of his head area was featureless and simply black in color and almost looked like a muscle suit, but for the head.

The robot Wolf body was over six feet long with it's legs three feet up. It's body was mostly black with dark purple tinting and inlets and sharp points throughout the joints and hips. On it's back was a long gray cannon between the front leg shoulders. It's tail was long and light gray with a cylinder at the end of the tail with three wiry cables. It's four claws were long and powerful and it's head was menacing with red slanted eyes and gray teeth like that of a big saw in it's large and deadly mouth.

There was an eerie silence in the room. The whole gang was finally face-to-face with the dark master Xana in his true form. Xana took a step to the side. The gang quickly reacted and raised their weapons. Xana stopped moving and didn't even seem bothered by their reaction to his movement.

"Well... here we are." He said to them in a cold and hate filled voice. "My old enemies from Earth." Xana says while looking at the Earth members. "And new fools funneled to the slaughter." He looked at the Earthera members next.

"Yes were here Xana. It's nice to finally see you in person instead of you hiding behind your attacks." Ulrich replied while gripping the handles of his sabers.

"Ulrich... still full of anger and brash as always." Xana chuckled. As he looked over the rest. "Yumi, nice to see that you look less like a cheap tramp." Yumi growled and gripped her fans.

"Let's see. We have a purple wearing boy turned into a Cataranion, a muscle headed Arachun who never heard of a shirt, a psycho Molknuc who swings his sword wild and uncontrolled, a Zarcanion organization member human, four Aquamarin brothers who's sister I have interest in what she's looking for, Altravaion twins, a Lizardin girl who's mother comes from a savage tribe, a prince with a powerful sword, and the girl Sam who just happen to follow you kids to the factory." Xana went on observing the gang until he looked at William. The gang was incredibly angry at his cruel commits on them and were almost ready to jump him.

"And William, you made a foolish mistake of leaving my side. I will be sure to make you regret it." He sneered looking at him. Xana's Wolf made a slight mechanical growl as if it's agreeing with him.

William almost ran from the others to attack Xana with his sword handle held hard, but Ulrich put his arm in front of William. "Don't William, that's what he wants you to do." Ulrich said to calm him down. William nodded and stood back in line with the rest.

"I cannot get a good scan on him. He is giving off a strange reading and I can't even analyze what he is made of." Alpha said to them in a quiet tone.

"And the robot Alpha is here. It's too bad Ukai and his men didn't bring you back, I could have spared you the ordeal of being torn apart. I could have given you a real purpose instead of these kids using you for their own gain." Xana says to Alpha while looking at the tall robot. "In fact my Wolf here could have been a great ally for you if you were at my side." Xana added.

"We are not using him for our own gain. He joined us on his own free will to help us fight you!" Jeremie's voice says with anger to Xana.

"I was wondering when you would speak up Jeremie. Usually you hide behind a computer chair while your friends fight, but now I see you are in a robot, but still hiding as always." Xana mocked with a slight evil chuckle.

"Your one to talk Xana! All you ever did was send your possessed minions to attack us, and yet you have the nerve to call Jeremie a coward." Odd yelled at Xana, finally getting tired of him. "Jeremie may not be much of a fighter, but his computer skills have saved us more time then I care to count." Odd defended their genius friend.

Xana started to pace around slowly. The gang didn't overreact this time, but still prepared themselves. "I suppose you may have a point, but his computer skills wont save any of you fools." Xana warned. "I have powers you all can't even begin to imagine!" Xana's symbol glowed a little brighter.

"We are not scared of you Xana. We will fight you, and we will take you out for good." Sam said through gritted teeth as she drew her bladed tonfas and held them ready.

"Hmm... I must say Aelita, you are good at getting others to fight for you while you stand back and let them bleed and suffer in agony for you." Xana said as he looked over to her.

Aelita slightly gasped and took a step back from his words, for a part of her knew he was right. "That's not true Xana! Aelita has done her fair share of fighting and has saved our lives more times then we could count!" Yumi defended as she stood next to the pink haired girl.

"She destroyed digital monsters, she shutdown activated towers, she has never took an actual life like you all have. To feel the spray of blood, to see the life drain from another person. So in other words, no she has not done her fair share of fighting." Xana snapped at Yumi as his symbol flared.

"I may have never killed anyone, but it's nothing compared to what you have done to me and my friends!" Aelita yelled as she stepped forward from the group. "You took my father away from me, you endangered our world, and you've tried to kill my friends and other people who have done nothing wrong to you. So you have no right to judge me you monster." Aelita held strong, her friends felt pride for her strength.

Xana started to slowly chuckle. His laugh began to get louder and louder until his maddening laugh began to echo through the room. The gang began to become both worried and confused from his strange action. Finally he stopped and straighten up. "Well I suppose it's a matter of perspective. I have observed both Earth and this planet Earthera, and I am incredibly shocked at how similar these two worlds are." Xana says to them as he paced around.

"What are you talking about Xana? What do you mean you've observed both our worlds?" Jack demanded as he gripped the handle of the Excalion on his back.

"Both worlds are filled with corruption, greed, hate, madness, acts of war and genocide. Your leaders refuse to do anything about these problems, yet you say I am evil, you say I am the cause of all problems and darkness, when I offer the solution." Xana yelled at the gang.

"What's your point? I'm getting bored and I just want to kill you." Knulgen said as he cracked his knuckles in anticipation.

"My desire for conquest, my desire for ruling all life is for your own good. You are all like children and out of control. Do you all really think you would survive any longer at the rate your worlds are going? Especially Earth. You use too much resources, you poison your lands and oceans, and you wage war against the most trivial of things." Xana took a seat in his throne and crossed his right leg over his left while still keeping his arms hidden. The Wolf walked over with it's mechanical clicking and sat on it's hind-legs next to Xana's seat.

"And yet to you that justifies destroying and entire city and killing all the people in it. That's something a monster like you excels at." Aracane sneered as his anger build and his grip tighten on his ax handle.

"What's the point of even attacking that city? What are you trying to prove by destroying it?" Leadonus also demanded with his scythe.

"The reason I'm attacking the city is to show this world my presence. It is time for this world to know it's new master. It is time for the world to see my power and to know that if anyone defies my will, there will be consequences! And if any doubt my power, they can look at the smoldering remains of Seadrift City!" Xana's symbol burned brighter.

"We will not allow that! We will stop you here and now. So prepare yourself Xana." Ulrich says as he raises his sabers. "I actually hope there is a Hell so we can send you to it!"

"This ends here for you. And I'll show you the strength of my mothers 'savage' tribe when I cut your throat open with my dagger." Kairaree says while taking out two of her daggers.

"Same here Xana, your head is ours." Ralfaius said with a twirl of his sais.

"I guess we don't have to ask that it was your men who attacked our allies home mountain all those years ago." Bal'la demanded as she held her blade-staff.

"We will make you pay for that and all the people who lost love ones and friends that day." Eli'ton added as he flicked his arm-blades out.

Xana slowly stood up from his seat, not even slightly intimidated by their defiance. "Well you all will be the first to know what happens when those who defy my will." Xana said as he revealed his right fist and clutched his hand at them.

"Then let's get this fight on Xana! I'm tired of talking!" Yumi said as she flicked her fan-blades open and ready to fight.

"You fools are not even worth my time. I'll let my Wolf handle you kids and your robot. And Aelita..." Xana turned to her. "Prepare to lose your friends too." Xana coldly glared through his lenses. He then chuckled and flew back up in the air the same way he came in with a fading trail of his stiff body as he stopped in midair and flew backwards the same way as well and the round doors closed after he was gone from view.

The gang looked back down and saw the Wolf staring at them. It then got back on four legs and lowered in a pouncing position and made a horrid mechanical howl that shook the room as it raised it's head upward like a normal wolf howling to the moon. The Wolf then leaped high and over the gang and landed behind them with a loud clatter of it's long metal claws.

The gang grouped up and got ready. The cannon on the Wolf mechs back charged up and blasted a beam right at the group as they spread out. The beam hit the floor and send pieces flying. Z pulled out his shotgun and pumped off several rounds at the robot wolf that just jumped out of each shots range. Z pumped the grenade launcher and fired off a grenade as the Wolf flipped around and grabbed the grenade with it's three cables at the end of the cylinder tip of it's tail and threw it back to Z as he quickly leaped out of the way as the grenade exploded and send him falling.

Ulrich charged at the Wolf and slashed at the animal machine. The Wolf kept walking back from Ulrich's swings and slashed at him a few times with it's powerful metal claws. Ulrich blocked each attack with his sabers, but the machine wolfs strikes were very powerful and hurt Ulrich's arms with each strike.

The sound of an arrow flying was heard by Ulrich and the Wolf who quickly turned and caught the arrow with it's teeth and broke it in half. Odd unsheathed his claws from his gauntlets and leaped at the Wolf. The two attacked each other with their claws in furious swings, a tiger and a wolf, battling like top predators. Odd leaped over the Wolf and landed by it's hind-legs and slashed, but only made a slight scratch on the leg as the Wolf then raised it's leg and kicked back at Odd who just barely managed to get out of the back-kicks way.

Leadonus leaped with scythe at the Wolf droid in a low swing as the Wolf leaped back and opened it's mouth to show a long shining barrel and blasted a laser from it as Lea got out of the way just in time. The Wolf started blasting away with it's mouth gun at him and some of the others.

The gang scattered to avoid the laser blasts of the Wolf as it ran around blasting. Aracane leaped up and landed on the wolfs and held on. Aracane raised one of his big fist and began to pound on the robots back. His fist smashed against the Wolfs back and head over and over while it tried to buck him off as Knulgen charged with his sword and swing at the Wolf who just leaped back before Knulgen could get a strike in.

Aracane was finally thrown off but landed on his feet with his ax in hand. Miodelus took a turn with his three-section-staff with one of the hidden blades out. His staff swung around at the Wolf while it leaped around. The Wolf then leaped over Mio and ran towards the wall and pounced at it and used the momentum to climb the wall and leap at Yumi.

She threw two of her fan-blades at the Wolf only to miss as the weapons flew past. Yumi ducked down, just barely missing the front claws of the Wolf as it landed behind her and turned. Yumi slowly backed away while pulling out her short-sword and another fan-blade as the Wolf slowly stalked her with a mechanical growl.

Kairaree threw the heavy end of her chain weapon and hit the wolf right in the side of it's dark purple head and caught it's attention. The Wolf turned to her growling which gave Yumi the chance to run beside Kairaree. The two held their weapons as the Wolf charged at the two girls and was almost right in front of them before a blade-staff and trident hit the machine beast in the left side and threw it off it's course to Yumi and Kairaree.

Bel'la and Deotalus picked up their weapons and thrust at the Wolf and managed to stab into it's side. The Wolf leaped back and was met by Ulrich's sabers as the swords slashed into the side of the neck and face and caused the Wolf stagger back. The sound of a shotgun being pumped was heard as the Wolf looked over and saw Z pointing his shotgun right at it's face before pulling the trigger and sending a lot of buckshot into the Wolfs face before leaping away, but didn't get out without damage. The side of it's head was dented and cracked from the close-range fire.

Knulgen swung his sword and got the Wolf in it's right front shoulder as Aracane joined in with slamming his ax blade into the Wolfs back followed by Ralfaius thrusting his butterfly short-swords into the Wolfs hips as sparks flew from the damage areas. Alpha finally took his shot and grabbed the Wolf by the back of it's neck and picked the Wolf up and unfolded one of his arm cannons and charged up the weapon and blasted the robotic wolf in the upper chest and sent it flying across the room.

The Wolf slid across the room with a screeching sound and sparks until it came to a stop and got back up, barely fazed by the damage. "This Wolf sure is durable, it's barely got any scratches." Sam says to the group as they rejoined back up.

"It's defiantly tough, but you guys can take it out, just keep hitting it hard." Aelita says to her friends as they got ready for another attack.

"Just stand back princess, we will slay this evil metal beast." Odd boasted in a heroic tone.

"You didn't tell me you are royalty too Aelita." Jack says to her with surprise.

"She's not a princess Jack, Odd just calls her that all the time." Ulrich corrected the young prince.

"Let's focus on the fight guys! I want to take that robot mutt down first." Knulgen said with a wicked smile and sword in hand.

The Wolf growled and opened it's mouth. The saw teeth began to vibrate and move like blades on a saw machine. The gang knew that if they got bit, they could loose a limb or worse with that saw-blade mouth. The wolf began to charge up it's cannon and blasted at the group. Alpha got in front of them and raised his big arms and took the full blast head on and staggered.

The Wolf ran to the group and leaped. Jack ducked down and only hit the Wolf in it's underbelly with the tip of the Excalion, but only made a nick in the armor. The Wolf took snaps at him with it's buzzing teeth as Kairaree jumped in and stabbed the Wolf in neck while staying out of it's teethes saw range. Yumi threw one of her fan-blades and hit the Wolf in it's front left arm. Kairaree pulled her dagger out and leaped back just as Jack jumped and strike right in the Wolfs back cannon and split it open, but still attached to the back, but permanently disabled.

The Wolf leaped back and opened it's mouth wider and a barrel popped out. A charge sound was heard before a large stream of flame burst out. Jack quickly got in the way held out his arms with sword held downward in his right hand and manipulated the flame to fly over them. The Wolf closed it's mouth and ran to another position and blasted another stream of flame at the gang while running around and creating a wave of flame. The room was becoming very hot and covered in patches of flame all over the large room. The gang did what they could do to stay out of the flames way.

Alpha recovered from the blast and stood between the gang and the Wolf. "This needs to end, machine against machine." He says as his eyes turn red.

"More like machine man against machine wolf." Odd said with his index finger pointing up. Sam groaned and lightly elbowed him in the ribs.

Alpha and the Wolf charged right at each other. The Wolf leaped up and bit Alpha on his right forearm and held tight. The Wolfs teeth began to buzz and cut into Alphas arm. The horrible sound of metal against metal screeched and Alpha raised his arm and the Wolf ran it's claws into his left shoulder as Alpha reacted and ram his left fist into the Wolfs head and knocked it off his arm but not before leaving a deep 'gash' in his forearm with small sparks popping out. The Wolf flung back and charged again and pounced again and knocked Alpha to the ground and slashed at his chest plates leaving deep scratches on his plating.

The gang stood back but prepared to attack in case the fight with Alpha against the Wolf didn't go well, but Aelita knew Alpha and Jeremie can win.

"This Wolf is far more powerful then we thought Alpha. We need to change the game-plan against Fido." Jeremie said to him as Alpha held the Wolf by the neck while it snapped at him with it's teeth buzzing.

"I agree, this fight is going on for too long." Alpha replied as he grabbed the Wolf by the upper and lower jaws and threw it off him.

The Wolf landed on it's feet and charged again and whipped it's tail at Alpha who raised his arm up just as the tail wrapped around and the three cables at the end began to electrocute Alpha. His sensors were going crazy as the electricity overloaded his systems. Alpha quickly reacted and made his left arm blade spring out and stabbed his red blade into the Wolfs hip missing the tail, but the Wolf still released Alpha from it's grip and pounced at Alpha with it's buzz-saw teeth ready.

Alphas combat computer highlighted the point of attack. Alpha raised his right hand and retracted it into his forearm and revealed his laser gun barrel and drove it into the Wolfs mouth and blasted with a full charge and blasted down the Wolfs 'throat' and sent it flying back a few meter and hitting the floor and bouncing again. The Wolf made a painful howl and exploded in a shower of pieces. Alphas laser gun both damaged the Wolfs power-core and ruptured the fuel tank full of pressurized flame fuel creating a fatal chain reaction.

The Wolf was defeated, the others cheered and ran over to Alpha. He sustained minor damage, but the Wolf was down for good as it's burnt pieces laid across the floor with most of it unrecognizable since the explosion was internal.

"That was so awesome big Al. You took that robot mutt down!" Odd says to Alpha as he jumped to pat him on the back.

"Are you all right Alpha? You took some damage." Aelita said with worry as she looked at his large damaged forearm.

"The damage to my body is minimal. I have plenty of backup systems, and I can still process Jeremie being in my systems without any errors." Alpha answered as he did a diagnostic scan on his system.

"Let's not get too excited, Xana will probably show up now and finish us himself." Z said to them to get them focused on the task at hand.

As if on cue, the round doors above the throne opened and Xana floated out once again the same way. The gang lined up near the elevated area and stood their ground as Xana landed back near his throne with his eyes slanted in an impressed look.

"I must say... you all have amazed me. I didn't think you had a chance against my Wolf." Xana said to them as he slowly paced.

"We're just full of surprises Xana, and just wait until we take you down." Ulrich repliedas they got ready to fight.

"Just a moment all of you. I want to know why you wish to destroy me." Xana said with a raised hand at them.

"What do you mean you want to know why we want to destroy you?! We want to so we can save our worlds from you before you have a chance to take over. That's why we are here to stop you." Yumi answered for the group.

"But did you ever stop to think of alternatives? Did you ever think that there are more simple and easier ways to stop me without having to destroy me, even though the idea is beyond preposterous." Xana chuckled at the last part as if it was a joke.

"If you got something to say, or trying to make a point or offer, just say it already and stop wasting our time!" William demanded.

"What I'm offering is an opportunity." Xana answered.

"A opportunity for what? To give you a chance to kill us?" Yumi asked with a light sneer.

"To give you all an opportunity. Join me, become my apprentices, and together we can all make a glorious future. A future free from evil, a future where all are equal, a future that is absolute." Xana offered to them, finally telling them.

The gang was speechless. Xana was offering them a chance to join as his apprentices. "Yeah right Xana! Do you really think we will fall for it? After all the time we've stopped you and destroyed your plans and just now scraped your Wolf, and you are offering us a chance to be at your side. We don't buy it for a moment." Odd crossed his arms with a scowl.

"Yes it does seem strange that I would change my mind to kill you all to having you all join me at my side. I can be cruel, I can be very cruel, but I can also be kind, and only a fool doesn't see opportunity when it's presented in front of you. So Lyoko warriors, join my side, and we will save your worlds. So give me your answer now, will... you... all... join me?" Xana asked in a calm but serious tone as his symbol slightly flared up.

The gang was quiet, they slowly look at each other as if they could hear each others thoughts. Finally Aelita spoke up for them. "Not a chance Xana, we will stop you here and now. So prepare to go down for good Xana, we will stop you together as the Lyoko warriors we are!" The gang cheered and held their weapons firm.

Xana made a slight growl at their defiance and raised his arm from under his cape and reached for the clasp near his neck. "If that is what you all want, then fine! I gave you all fair warning!" Xana unlocked the clasp and pulled off the large and long cape off in a swift motion. "I want you to watch your friends die right in front of you Aelita!" Xana threaten her.

His arms were very similar in look to his leg grieves as he reached for his back and grabbed a sword. The blade was like a straight sword. The blade had Xana's symbol right at the guard with a long red handle. The blade was light green and short. He raised the sword handle with both hands near his face in a fighting stance and the blade grew out over six feet in length.

"Now warriors of destiny. Prepare yourselves to fall, for my blade will be the last thing you will all see!" Xana roared as he squat down and leaped with incredible speed and flew towards the gang.

The gang dodged, his swing barely missing a few of them from his powerful swing. Z raised his shotgun and fired as Xana leaped up into the air and bounced off the roof and towards Z and sliced right through his shotgun as Z barely managed to let it go as the blade skimmed his right shoulder with a small spray of blood as the two half pieces hit the ground.

Aracane roared as he swung his ax at Xana. His axes swings hit hard against his sword, but Xana didn't even buckle at the strikes as he changed his swords positions to counter each strike. It was like Aracane was striking a solid wall of steel and wasn't even making a dent. Ralfaius charged from the other side with his sais in hands and leaped.

Xana saw him coming and jump straight into the air and began to leap around the room. His feet touch the walls and roofs and bend down to his knees before leaping to the next position over and over across the massive room. Xana leaped from the roof and raised his sword over his head and slashed down at the gang. They jumped out of the way as the sword slammed into the ground with tremendous force that shook the ground.

The gang took their chance and attacked Xana from all sides. Ulrich slashed his swords while Knulgen leaped from behind and swing from behind as Xana ducked from both attacks. Bel'la thrust with her blade-staff while Kairaree swung her chain at him but only dodged each attack with ease. Yumi attacked from behind with her short-sword, but Xana turned and grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up off the ground with his left hand with ease.

"I've been thinking back to the time when you fell into the digital sea, always brings a smile to my face when they thought you were lost for good." Xana chuckled as Yumi struggled against his grip.

"Let her go now!" Ulrich roared as looked over just as he leaped and made two small nicks on Xana's chest plate. Yumi raised her sword and stabbed into his forearm. Xana yelled as he looked over to her and tossed her down.

"Lucky hit boy!" Xana roared as he grabbed Ulrich by the hair and picked him up. Ulrich struggled against Xana's grip, but dared not let go of his sabers. "And to think I had high hopes for especially you boy!" Xana sneered as he tossed Ulrich aside.

Eli'ton charged with his arm-blades held back and ready to strike. Xana turned just as Eli'ton jumped and palmed the Altravaion boy right in his armored chest and sent him flying back. Eli'ton hit the floor hard and rolled across the floor and finally stopped and slid open the faceplate of his helmet and coughed hard from having the wind knocked out of him as he looked down and noticed a palm sized dent on his armor that was deep enough to bruise his chest.

The Surfane brothers surrounded Xana and attacked all at once. Leadonus swung his scythe right at Xana's face while Deotalus thrust with his trident as Xana dodged both attacks while Miodelus jumped with his nun-chucks twirling. Xana grabbed him by the collar and threw him at Ralfaius who had his butterfly short-swords out and crashed right into him and the two fell to the ground.

Knulgen passed the brothers and swung wildly at him with his curved sword. Xana looked very unimpressed by Knulgen's wild attacks as he raised his left hand and caught Knulgen's sword and paused the fight. "You wild animal! You swing your sword like a undisciplined idiot and you expect to hit me. You are beneath this weapon." Xana mocked as Knulgen tried to pull his sword away.

"Like I need to listen to any shit you have to say!" Knulgen yelled as he pulled his sword out of Xana's grip and even managed to cut his palm a little.

Xana stepped back just as Z pointed his SMG at him and opened fire. Xana leaped into the air high and bounced off the roof and leaped to the west wall and leaped over to the north and east walls while Z fired his machine gun until he ran out of ammo. The floor around him had a pile of shells and magazines at his feet. Z tossed the gun aside and pulled his assault mini-rifle from his back and fired. Xana leaped down and landed right beside Z.

Z held his fire since his friends could get caught in the crossfire. Xana raised his sword and Z turned and fired his assault mini-rifle at Xana who just kept dodging each burst fire and forcing Z to back up while firing as Xana swung his sword.

Z finally ran out of ammo for his rifle and tossed it aside and grabbed his curved combat machetes and attacked. The others stood back so they don't get in the way and try to come up with a plan to flank Xana. Z raised his machetes and blocked Xana's sword blow while they held their ground.

"You are strong gun fighter, but you seem to be much stronger in your left arm, I wonder." Xana said to Z as he pushed his sword down harder on Z.

"My arm is none of your business! And I am going to crack your faceplate right off!" Z yelled as he pushed Xana's sword back and hooked his left fist straight at Xana's symbol covered face with his machete still in hand. Xana did the same with his left fist and made contact with Z's left fist.

The sound of crashing was heard as their fists clashed and Z then reeled back and dropped the machete in his right hand and clutched his left arm and backed far away. "Z! Are you all right? Did he break your arm?" Kairaree called as she ran over to his side while the others got in front of the two for cover in case Xana tries to attack.

Z was speechless, he breathed slow and shaky as he realized what happened. Kairaree tried to get an answer out of as she gently held him up for support. Suddenly a clanking was heard and then something hitting the ground as she looked over and gasped. Z's fist fell to the ground while still holding the handle of the machete as more metal plates and wiring and gear like parts fell to the floor.

Some of the others looked over and saw the pieces that fell out of his sleeve. "Z... you have... you have a full metal arm? Why didn't you tell us?" Kairaree asked him, a little hurt that he didn't tell them.

"It... just didn't seem important, I didn't know what you all would have thought" Z said almost embarrassed as a long piece fell out of his coat sleeve.

"How much of your arm is it?" Kairaree asked as she picked up his machete and put it back in the sheath on his back while Ulrich kicked the other machete over to them while Xana stood there to watch the gang and their little show on discovering Z's secret.

"All the way up to my shoulder and armpit." Z answered as he bend down to pick up the other machete that he dropped. "My right leg is also a full metal limb, all the way up to the hip." Z also said as he put the other machete away.

"Hey Z, are you still able to fight?" Aracane asked him while keeping his sights on Xana.

"If you want Z, just stay back while we fight fight this bastard." Kairaree offer as she took out her dagger and blade end of her chain weapon.

"Not a chance." Z replied as he took out his one main handgun that belonged to his father with the burst-fire setting and cocked the hammer. "He may have broke my arm past the elbow, but I'm not going to step back while I can still fight. I just need to be able to shoot and I will do fine. The two joined up with the rest and got ready for the next round.

Xana crossed his arms with his sword still in his right hand and began to laugh. "Oh this is straight out of a high school drama." Xana laughed even harder. "It's almost a shame that I need to destroy you kids, watching you struggle with your adolescence is very amusing indeed." Xana shook his head as he raised his sword at the gang.

"Hey Xana! If you like jumping around so much, then jump rabbit!" Z yelled as he aimed and fired his handgun at Xana with burst-fire mode setting. Xana blocked each bullet with lighting speed with his sword as the lead hit the ground in pieces since Xana's sword cut right through the bullets.

After Z ran out of ammo, the rest charged after Xana. They all took a swing at Xana, but he leaped back up into the air and jumped around the room again. Alpha went full auto with his laser guns and blasted away as Xana bounced around the walls while dodging the lasers.

Xana leaped down to the ground again and looked towards the gang as the center dot glowed bright red and blasted a straight laser beam right at the gang as the laser beam burned through the floor and went in the direction Xana's head moved. The gang flipped and jumped over and under the beams path with it's burning blast.

William ran past the beam and leaped next to Xana. "Oh how I am going to enjoy this!" William yelled which caught Xana's attention as William brought his sword right at Xana's chest and gashed his armor chest as Xana staggered back and stopped the laser beam from his center dot.

"This is for screwing up my chance to be a real Lyoko warrior!" William yelled as he slashed and hit Xana in the chest. "This is for using me as a slave for months!" William slashed another cut on Xana's chest. "This is for trying to take over my planet!" William slashed another gash on Xana's chest. "And this is because I just hate you!" William yelled once more as he pointed his sword and charged right for Xana's chest.

Xana's symbol burned as he used his sword to knock Williams aside and grab hm by the neck and lifted him up with his free hand. "I had plans for you William." Xana sneered as he held Williams face close to his symbol covered face. "I was going to make you my right hand warrior, you could have had all you desired and much more. Instead you went limping back to them like a beat dog." Xana growled as his symbol flared again.

"I'd rather be a beat dog then a mindless slave to a monster like you!" William shot back as he struggled against Xana's powerful grip.

"I can offer a better solution for you, I can let you die!" Xana growled as he pointed his sword right at William stomach.

"William hang on!" Ulrich yelled as the two looked to see Ulrich throw both his sabers. One blade hit Xana in the arm holding William while the other hit Xana right in his face.

Xana yelled in pain as he dropped William and put his hand to his face. William grabbed both of Ulrich's sabers with one hand and ran over to Ulrich and gave his weapons back. Xana slowly traced his armored fingers over the vertical slash across his symbol. It wasn't deep, but it could still be seen.

"I will make you pay for that boy! I think the lose of someone you care about should teach you." Xana smiled as he looked over to Yumi. She slightly gasped and raised her fan-blades and ready to fight.

Ulrich charged after Xana, but he jumped up into the air and bounced off the roof and angled towards Yumi as she got ready for his attack. As Xana was just in range, William leaped right in the way with his butcher blade in a downward position and blocked Xana's sword with a loud clash that sent William to the ground hard.

Yumi leaped over William with a roar and stabbed Xana in the right shoulder near the neck with her short sword. Xana roared back and grabbed her arm while pulling the blade out as well with black blood streaked across the blade. "I will kill you for that you school whore!" Xana yelled with his symbol burning while Yumi tried to struggle out of his grip.

"She's no whore Xana, but we'll be glad to make you our bitch!" Sam called from behind as she drove her bladed tonfas into his lower back. Xana growled in pain and let Yumi go and swung his sword at her and barely missing her neck and made only a small cut on her neck.

Odd roared with a feral cry as he ran pass Sam and slashed his claws right at Xana's abdomen and made eight small claws slashes while Xana swung his sword. Odd ducked and rolled out of the way just in time as Xana only managed to nick a few hairs at the tip of his tail.

Aracane passed by and swung his ax and cut Xana in his left shoulder blade area. "I will wipe your entire culture off the face of this planet for that you muscle headed brute!" Xana yelled to him as low swung his sword and knocked Aracane to the ground who thankfully blocked just in time or would have been killed from the blades blow.

Xana held his sword over Aracane and ready to plunge the sword into his chest. Xana heard the sound of gears grinding as Xana looked over and saw Alphas fist right before it socked him in the face. Xana staggered back with a small crack on his face as Alpha punched him again in the face then uppercut him in his 'stomach' then grabbed Xana by the back of his head and began to slam his massive fist into Xana's chest over and over with loud thuds as his metal fist began to make small dents into Xana's chest as Xana grunted with each blow.

Xana finally got the upper hand and grabbed Alphas large wrist and sent his black and purple electricity through Alpha. The crackling thunder overloaded Alphas systems as he made a painful mechanical groan and began to fall to his knees as the lighting surged. "Hang on Alpha, I'll save you!" Jack yelled as he leaped and sliced a gash into Xana's armored back.

Xana yelled and let Alpha go which gave the robot an opening and slugged Xana in the face and sent him wobbling back. "You will pay for that prince! I will end the Arthurlot bloodline here and now!" Xana roared as lighting began to charge around his arms.

"Not a chance Xana! Your not the only one who can throw lighting around." Jack replied as blue and white electricity began to surge through his arms as well.

The two raised their arms with their palms open in one hand while holding their swords in their right hands in a downward position as their lighting flew and clashed together. The lighting screamed and clashed and flew all over the room as the two bolts of lighting mixed into a vibrant color. Jack and Xana held their ground while the rest kept back to not break Jack's concentration as Xana increased the voltage of his current as the bolts grew bigger.

"Give it up prince, I've been throwing lighting since long before you were born! You can't hope to defeat me!" Xana yelled as he put even more power into his lightning.

"Don't count me out yet Xana! I still got some tricks up my sleeve!" Jack smiled back as he too put more power into his lighting and began to walk towards Xana while still holding up his hands as if he was pushing against some invisible wall.

The two began to walk towards each other as the lighting power in their hands began to heat up as they got closer and closer while the lighting messed with the lights of the room and sparks flew all over the place until finally the two were staring in front of each other only a few feet apart as their lighting flew more violently. The two held strong as their hands began to burn, especially the hands holding the swords.

"I will turn you into ash right where you stand!" Xana threatened as his symbol burned bright.

"You know the thing about lighting is you need to be very careful with it." Jack smiled wickedly. "Because you never know where it's going to hit!" Jack shouted as his sword the Excalion flew out of his right hand and flew between Jack's arms with the blade pointing straight up and conducted the lighting and blasted Xana in the chest through the swords red gem like eye.

The lighting tore through Xana and sent him flying back and fly right crashing into his horrid throne with a painful and angry scream. The lighting in Jack's hands dissipated in a flash and he fell to his knees as the Excalion stuck into the floor as the gang ran up to him to help him back up.

"That was so damn awesome Jack!" Miodelus yelled as he pat the prince on his back.

"Can you stand up Jack? You look really exhausted and hurt." Yumi asked him with concern.

"I'm fine guys. I just need a moment to catch my breath. That's the first time I've ever really used my lighting power that hard." Jack answered as he got back on his feet.

"Well either way, Xana will think twice before messing with us again." Odd chuckled.

"You little mortal bastards! Xana shouted and catching the gangs attention. Xana slowly forced himself up from his throne with his sword in hand and slowly started walking towards the gang. "I gave you all the chance to join my side, I gave you all the chance to save your worlds, but you all spit at my offer!" Xana staggered closer and closer to the gang with his chest injury very visible.

"It doesn't matter what you offer us Xana, we will end you here for good." kairaree replied with her dagger pointing at him.

"Just give up Xana. Your too hurt to put up a real fight anymore. Surrender and we will ease your passing." Aracane offered with his ax slung over his shoulder.

"I will never submit to pathetic mortals like you! Especially teenagers and a robot! This ends here and now!" Xana roared with his symbol burning and charged after the gang with his sword held high.

"Your right Xana! This ends here and now indeed!" Ulrich replied as Xana and the gang charged into the final faze of the battle.

Xana swung his sword and missed Jack as he swung back and sliced him in the side. Xana thrust his blade as Alpha dodged and stabbed Xana all the way through the chest with his red edged blade and pulled it out as a little bit of black blood spurted out and pushed him away as Xana swung again and missed Bel'la as she sliced him on the chest with her blade-staff while Eli'ton gashed him twice on the back then kicked Xana towards the Surfane brothers.

Leadonus leaped and slashed Xana on the chest with his scythe as Deotalus ran past and thrust his trident into Xana's chest and pulled out as Ralfaius leaped and stabbed into Xana's shoulders with his sais as Miodelus took his turn and stabbed Xana with the spring out blades of his nun-chucks into Xana's abdomen.

Aracane charged with a roar and drove his ax deep into Xana's shoulder as Knulgen ran and sliced Xana across the back with his sword and the two pushed him away hard as Kairaree leaped and stabbed Xana several times with her daggers all over his torso until she leaped back and Z ran past her with his new saw-off shotgun and unloaded two shells into Xana's face and chest with his armless sleeve waving freely.

Xana was blinded by the blast for a moment until his sight came back just in time as Sam ran up and slashed with both of her bladed tonfas while Odd leaped and slashed deeper into Xana's torso while Yumi came up and slashed Xana across the neck and stabbed into his heart area and kicked him in the face with her boot and made Xana stagger back again.

Xana was hunched over from all the damage he took as his body slowly dripped black blood and sparks lightly crackled from the wounds of his metal armor body. "You... fools... can't kill me! I am Xana! And I will never die!" Xana roared with renewed rage as he stood back up with rage.

"Your not exactly looking your best Xana!" William called to him.

"Let's test to see if you really can't die!" Ulrich added as the two ran after him.

Xana readied himself as the two boys surrounded him. Xana held his sword as up as he stared at the two boys at his sides. Suddenly Ulrich threw his sabers over Xana and caught his attention to the strange act as William slide his butcher which Xana instinctively jumped over it as Ulrich picked it up as Xana looked back over to him. A sharp pain ran through Xana as Ulrich's sabers went all the way through Xana's back and made him yell in pain while William held the handle of the sabers firm to keep Xana in place.

Xana tried to force William off as he looked back to Ulrich and realized what their plan was as Ulrich rammed Williams sword through his front and all the way through to the handle. Xana gasped in pain as Ulrich and William pulled the blades out and Xana began to stagger back while dropping his sword as it clatter to the ground.

Xana slowly reached the elevated level and turned to the gang as they prepared for another attack. "You destroyed my... core... impossible..." Was all Xana said as he roared again in pain as light shined out from the massive wound then light began to spread across his body like veins until his body exploded in a bright blinding light that filled the massive room and hit the gang with a shockwave that knocked them to the ground except for Alpha.

After a minute the light faded and the gang got back up. All across the room was scattered pieces of Xana's body, burnt and charred. The gang looked at each other and realized they did it, they destroyed Xana! They cheered and clapped and jumped around as even Mio did a little break-dance while Z just stood their with a small smile as Kairaree suddenly pulled him in a hug as he unknowingly blushed a little in surprise.

Ulrich and William gave their weapons back and even high-five while Yumi walked up to them. "Once again that was a reckless move you idiots!" She practically shouted. "But once again you two did great and even worked together." Yumi complemented with a wide smile.

"Hey, I'm just glad we showed Xana we're tougher then he thought." William victoriously smirked.

"All that matters now is Xana is done for. Now all we have to do is take this place down, however that may be." Ulrich chuckled.

"Hey guys. Whats that on the throne?" Aelita called to them.

The gang turned and saw something on the seat of the throne. They looked closer and noticed to their horror it was the head of Xana that went down to the neck with some cracks on the symbol.

"Strange... Xana's head survived the explosion mostly intact." Z said with concern and his hand on his handgun in the holster in case he needed it.

"My scans show no activity present. It must be dead." Alpha said as he finished his analysis.

"Let's just leave this place already. I can't stand being in here for another minute." Jeremie's voice called out as the gang nodded and turned to the elevator and began to walk down the long room.

"This is not over you fools!" The gang froze as the cold voice yelled out. They turned and saw Xana's head alive and glowing again as it slowly began to float up. "I'm not finished with you all yet. I'm amazed you all managed to destroy my body, but now comes the time to activate my new form! It is time to show you all my real power!" Xana bellowed as his head flew higher up.

Xana's head floated up in front of the round door which spiraled open. A line began to come down on the very center of the wall with the round opening in the middle and slowly slide open. The gang froze up but held their ground ready to fight as the massive metal wall revealed a pitch black room with various colored lights all over the darkness. Xana's head floated to a structure and seemed to lock in place as the room slowly lighted up and revealed to the gang, the monstrous new form of Xana.

**END CHAPTER.**


	31. XANA REBUILT

**CHAPTER 31: XANA REBUILT**

The gang stood speechless as Xana's head floated towards the room that began to light up. Inside the new room hanged a massive machine. It hung by many large cables and arm supports. The head resembled the robotic Wolf the gang fought not long ago, but only more vicious looking with dark purple and black cranium and long dark gray face and large bright blue oval eyes. The body was large and wide but incomplete in it's structure with Xana's symbol in the very center of the chest.

The shoulders were massive and dome shaped with three long cone shaped spikes on each shoulder. The chest plates consisted of many gray and red parts with black trim but was only completed in the 'ribcage' area. The rest of the body was unfinished, for a long and large metal 'spine' with cables connected to each section of the spinal column until it reached a wide 'pelvis' like section with some support rods and cables connected to it.

At the sides of the body were two massive robotic hands that hanged by cables. The hands came to life and the many cables disconnected and the hands began to slowly float and swirl in clockwise circles. The large hands were more then big enough to grab a person and crush the body with ease. The plating on the palms were dark purple with round blue lenses like circle in the palms and the back parts of the hands with black and gray fingers with triangle shaped points at the fingertips and spikes on the knuckles.

The floating hands were very articulate and could move each section and digit freely and almost life like. The back parts of the hands near the 'wrist' areas had three openings that were energy thrusters to give the hands a boost in speed. Xana's head floated towards the very center of the head where a gray oval shape panel was opened and Xana's head locked in place as cables connected to the inside of the neck as two clamps at the sides secured Xana's head in place as a clear dome slid over his head and Xana seemed to come back fully alive and rejuvenated and ready to destroy the gang.

"Gods... dammit..." Knulgen dragged out in pure shock.

"How are we suppose to fight him now?!" Eli'ton whispered to the gang.

"I knew this was too damn easy. Looks like we still have a fight on our hands." Z said as he pulled his other handgun out and cocked the hammer as his sleeveless left arm of his coat waved freely.

"We kicked his ass before, we just have to pull him down and finish him for good!" Aracane encouraged as he reached for his ax and pulled it out.

"Then let's take him down once and for all." Ulrich added as he drew his sabers.

Xana began to chuckle. His chuckle grew into a monstrous bellowing laugh that seemed to mix with his new robotic body, making his voice almost sound like someone else was saying the exact same thing at the very same pace. "You all think you can stop me?!" He roared as the cables glowed and the new body moved on it's suspension system. "You stupid adolescent punks and hunk of junk robot still think you can kill me?!" Xana questioned as the hands began to float and bobble. "Even in this incomplete body I still have more power then you all can possibly imagine. And with this body connected to the very power core of this fortress, my powers are amplified tenfold."

"It's not over yet Xana! We can still fight and we will stop you, just like many times before." Yumi protested with her short sword and fan-blade in hands, ready to fight.

"Defiant to the end! I somewhat admire that. But it wont matter soon. This base is only a few hundred miles from Seadrift City. The stealth systems cloak this base and jam all radar detection for miles. No one will see this base before it's too late, and soon the whole world will be under my heel once this body is complete. And when I'm done, I will you use kids as a symbol to what happens when anyone defies me!" Xana roared as the two hands flew towards the gang.

They all jumped as the two large hands hit the ground hard with tremendous thuds that blew some of them to the ground. Miodelus fell to the floor and almost dropped his nun-chucks in the process. The right hand flew above him and the blue lenses light up.

"Holy fish-bait!" Mio yelled as he rolled out of the way just as a streak of electric energy shot out and hit the ground with a burst.

"Damn! He can shoot electricity from his palms guys!" Deotalus shouted to the gang as another fist flew towards him and some of the others.

"That's not all I can do! Feel the fury of my energy beam cannon!" Xana roared as the wolf-like robot head tilted up and it's mouth opened and a long cannon pointed out and charged up and blasted a whitish blue beam right at them. The beam hit the floor and tore anything in it's path to pieces as the gang scattered.

Z aimed his handgun and fired at Xana's dome covered head. The bullets ricocheted off the dome as Xana chuckled from Z's vain attempt to injure him.

The two hands flew beside each other at a far distance then stopped as the hands were at body high length off the ground turned sideways and and flew towards each other like a person trying to clap something as the palms neared each other. Ulrich and Yumi just barely dodged the palms clashing together with a thunderous boom.

Knulgen jumped on top of the right hand and began to slash wildly at the back of the hand as it floated up. He continued to slash and slice but barely making scratches as the top blue lenses began to charge up. "Oh shit this can't be good!" Knulgen shouted as he jumped off in time as the blast from the lenses shot up.

Knulgen fell to the ground backwards as Leadonus leaped and caught him just in time while still holding the handle of his scythe. The two landed with a thud and took a moment to regain their composure. "Are you crazy you maniac?! At that height the fall would have broken many of your bones, especially your legs!" Leadonus shouted at him as the two got on their knees.

"Well what will that do to us?" Knulgen shouted back as he pointed to the left hand flying towards them in a fist with the spiked knuckles pointing right at them. The two shrieked as they rolled out of the way in time as the fist punched into the ground and crushed the floor they were at just moments ago.

The hands flew up in the air and clenched into fists and used the energy thrusters to send the fists flying to the ground where ever the gangs stood. The fists pummeled and smashed and shook the floor with each smash as the spiked knuckles made four holes into the ground. The gang kept dodging and diving out of the way of each fist slams.

"You are all insects in the presence of a god, and like all insects, you all deserve to be crushed under my godlike powers!" Xana laughed as his fists slammed the floors. "Now bow before me and I will make your deaths quick and merciful!"

"We're never going to bow to a monster like you! And we will not die here Xana. We will send this base and you to the bottom of the ocean!" William yelled at him as he leaped out of another fist slam.

"Silence! I gave you all the chance to ascend to godhood at my side and you all refused! Now you will all pay for your foolishness against defying my will!" Xana yelled back as his right fist went after William.

William jumped out of the way just in time as the fist hit the floor. The hand opened and the blue lenses charged up and fired as William dodged out of the way but got clipped by the beam on his back. William yelled in pain from the energy and fell to the floor.

The fist hovered over him as he struggled to get back up. He looked up as the palm of the floating hand got ready to slam on him in a almost mocking way just before it flew down. William closed his eyes and prepared for the end just as he heard a crashing sound. He looked up and saw Alpha holding the hand back by it's middle and pinky fingers at the joints while the pointed tips tried to crush Alpha from behind and also try to hover away from Alphas grip.

"I suggest you move William. I can't hold this position for long." Alpha ordered as the right hand tried to fly away harder.

"Right. Thanks Al." William replied as he got up and moved.

With William out of the way, Alpha pushed the hand away and unfolded his laser guns from the inside of his forearms and blasted away at the hand. The flying hand turned on it's backside and blocked Alphas laser blasts. Alpha slowly backed away as he blasted in vain as the lasers did little to no damage against the more powerful metal plating.

"It's useless robot! Your pathetic weapons are weak against my body, even if it is incomplete!" Xana mocked as the right hand flew away from Alpha. The two hands flew back up and hovered over the gang, waiting to strike until finally the hands flew above some of the gang and slammed down like someone beating on a drum, causing the room to shake with each pound.

The right hand hit the floor which Kairaree and Ralfaius and Eli'ton the chance to jump on the massive hand and began to stab and away with their weapons at the back of the hand, only to make small dents and nicks. The blue lenses on the back part of the hand charged up and the three jumped off just as the beam blasted.

"We aren't getting anywhere with this! How can we even kill him?" Kairaree said to the gang as the hands floated around.

"The only possible place we might even hurt him is his head. But it's covered by a dome." Ralfaius added while holding his sais hard.

"This isn't over until it's over guys. Xana's new body is incomplete like he said, so that means he's not at full power in that body." Eli'ton reminded them.

His sister Bel'la walk beside him. "But the problem is we can't get up there to him. There is no stairs or lifts, and those hands prevent us from even getting near him." Bel'la pointed out.

"We have to figure something out. Xana is not going to let us just leave this room." Yumi says to them as well.

"Oh you all will leave this room soon. Just in many pieces!" Xana laughed as the fist flew towards them again.

Jack threw his Excalion and spun around like a boomerang at the floating hands. The floating hands dodged the Excalion and both hands blasted the sword out of the air and down to the floor. Jack ran and retrieved his sword as the hands began to slam around across the room with terrible thudding.

Alpha raised his hands and blasted away at Xana's new body from afar in the room. The lasers barely burned into the upper body while the hands flew over to Alpha. "It is time to put that robot in the scrapyard and use it for parts!" Xana growled as the head of his new body opened and charged up the laser cannon.

The floating hands got by Alphas sides only a few feet apart and charged up the palm lenses. Alpha figured out what Xana's plan was as the palms lenses fired the beams of energy as Xana then blasted the laser cannon from the mouth and hit Alpha dead center and sent the robot flying across the room.

"Alpha! Jeremie!" Aelita cried out as she ran over to them. Xana chuckled at his destructive plot against the robot Alpha.

Alpha hit the floor hard and rolled a little before coming to a screeching halt. The laser gun barrels folded back into Alphas arms and his hands retracted back out to help get him on his knees. Sparks and electricity crackled all over his body with the scoured burn marks on his chest and sides of his body. "Catastrophic error. Systems damage critical. Emergency ejection." Alpha sputtered from the damage. His chest plates opened and the center core lighted up and as he said, ejected and rematerialized Jeremie from his systems onto the floor.

Jeremie groaned and slowly got up and looked over to Alpha as he remembered what happened. "Alpha no!" Jeremie called out as he ran over to him. Alpha was on his hands and knees while electricity still surged all over his body. "Alpha no, please be all right! Use your emergency systems and internal repairs." Jeremie begged as Aelita and Ulrich and Yumi reached them.

Alpha slowly managed to get back on his feet with his systems still short-circuiting. "I will be all right. The damage is only moderate and my systems will repair itself." Alpha replied while still bugging up.

"The damage will be permanent once I'm done grinding you into scrap!" Xana yelled to them as his hands floated around again ready to attack. The rest of the gang gathered up around Alpha and ready to stand against Xana and his threats.

"Like we said Xana, we will defeat you once and for all!" Ulrich shouted to Xana with his sabers held firm in his hands.

"I see that your wills are strong and determine to stand against me." Xana replied as he looked over the gang slowly. He narrowed his eyes towards Aelita and came up with a cruel plan. "If I can't deter you young warriors into surrender, then perhaps the death of a beloved one will finally break you all!" Xana smiled as his hands flew towards them and slammed down to the floor and sending them falling to the floor.

The gang got back up and even Alpha was able to function better even if he wasn't fully back to 100% but still in fighting mode. The confusion of the fists slamming into the floor distracted the gang long enough for them to realize what Xana was planning as they heard Aelita scream. They turned to see the right hand reaching for her like a giant catching his prey.

"Aelita hold on!" Jeremie called out to her as he ran towards her with his hand out.

The right hand fingers began to wrap around Aelita's petite body as she reached out with her right arm. Jeremie pushed himself to reach her just as the fingers held Aelita firm. Jeremie reached out and grabbed her hand and tried to pull her out in vain as the hand began to float away and Jeremie lost his hold on her while he called her name as Xana laughed crazed as his right hand floated towards him in front of his suspended body near the head for Xana to look straight at her.

"Let her go now Xana!" Knulgen yelled with pure anger that echoed throughout the massive room.

"You monster! Stop using her as a shield and face us you coward!" Aracane added with pure rage.

"Release her Xana before we rip your head out from that new body!" Z threatened as he aimed his handgun at Xana's dome covered head.

Xana chuckled at their attempts to intimidate him while he held Aelita in place. Aelita struggled against Xana's grip with her free arm as Xana gently squeezed Aelita with a chuckle. Aelita gasped in pain from the cold grip of Xana's floating hand.

"Tell me Lyoko warriors. What is it like to see her struggle in my grip like a mouse in the paw of a tiger? What is it like to see the short life she's lived slowly fade from her body? What's it like to loose the one you care about Jeremie?" Xana asked them with venom in his voice as his grip slowly tightened and loosened to play with her.

"No, let her go Xana. We're the ones you want! Just let Aelita go!" Jeremie piratically begged as tears threatened to fall. The others felt helpless. They couldn't get to Aelita and Xana knew it as he literally held Aelita's life in his hands.

"I always knew you were pathetic Xana." Aelita struggled to say.

"What was that you pink-haired harlot?!" Xana demanded as he squeezed her just enough to tighten his grip on her body while she gasped.

"Using me as a shield against my friends while you hang up high and out of range from their attacks. You really are pathetic. You think the world and all it's people will learn to submit to you after you use us as an example for those who stand against you! But the real truth is the world will only see that despite all your power, a bunch of teenagers and a robot were able to inflict so much damage to you. In other words Xana, you will look like the fool to everyone." Aelita said to Xana proud with a slightly pained smile.

Xana's rage boiled, the cables holding the body glowed and Xana's symbol burned red at her insults. "When I'm done with you all, there will be no one who will dare stand against me! I was hoping to keep you alive for many years so you could suffer and beg me for death! But now I will end you here and make you the first to have blood stained on my hand!" Xana roared as he began crush Aelita in his hand.

The gang cried out in fear and blindly charged towards Xana. But the left hand flew towards them and attacked with it's energy palm and fist slamming as the gang desperately tried to get to Aelita and Xana.

Aelita could feel the tight grip crushing her. Xana was putting pressure on her by the once as the hands fingers clenched. Aelita couldn't breath, her lungs burned for air as the pressure got tighter on her body. Her bones ached, her flesh bruised, her organs felt ready to burst. She chocked back tears as her free hand clenched from the pain.

Xana slowly laughed at her torment in his hands and could even 'feel' Aelita's heartbeat going rapid as the blood in her body struggled to flow. "When I'm done taking over the worlds Aelita, I might pick up some hobbies in my spare time. Like... resurrecting the dead, starting with you." Xana laughed as his floating hands grip tightening on her body.

Aelita's mind became hazed, she could feel her life slowly slipping away, she coughed up a spurt of blood that splattered on the thumb side. She began to feel a warm sensation in her right hand. The gang looked to her in horror as Aelita began to die in Xana's floating hand.

Aelita slowly struggled to raise her arm and point her hand towards Xana and hold in place as if some force compelled her with what little strength she had left. "Ene..." Aelita gently gasped.

Xana noticed Aelita trying to say something. "What are you trying to say? Some last words to beg for your life?" Xana demanded.

Aelita held her arm in place as an instinct came back to her that was almost forgotten. A spark lit up in her hand and a ball of pink and white formed in her hand and floated in her palm as her friends saw it and gasped while Xana's eyes went wide with horror. "Energy Field!" Aelita cried out and the ball of energy blasted away.

"No! Impossible!" Xana yelled as the Energy Field flew and busted through the dome cover and hit Xana right in his severed head.

The whole robot body began to spark with dark pink electricity as the left hand fell crashing to the floor while the right hand began to slowly loosen it's grip on Aelita. The gang ran towards Xana's robotic body while he screamed in pain as the power of the Energy Field surged through his new body. The floating right hand finally let Aelita go and fell to the ground. Aracane tossed his ax aside and leaped and caught her in his massive arms and rolled, hitting his back to the floor with Aelita safe and unharmed. The gang ran over and looked her over.

Aelita was unconscious and unresponsive. "Aelita! Please say something." Jeremie called to her.

"I don't believe it. That was... that was Aelita's Energy Field. Her power attack from Lyoko! How the hell did she manage to do that outside of Lyoko?!" Odd stuttered with confusion.

"I think that's the least of our concern. Right now, Xana is down and we need to get out of here as soon as we can." Ulrich said to him.

"She's alright for now, but we need to get out of here." Yumi Jeremie to him to calm him down while she gently helped Jeremie back up.

"I'll carry her out of here. It will be easy for me." Aracane says to them as he got himself back up and held Aelita bridal style while Knulgen came over and put Aracane's ax in the back holster.

"I am functioning again Jeremie. I can upload you back into my systems." Alpha said as his chest plates opened and his cables extended out.

"Your right Alpha, bring me back in." Jeremie replied as Alpha complied and wrapped his cables around his body and absorbed Jeremie back into his systems.

The sound of a loud explosion startled the gang and turned to Xana. He was still screaming in pain as his new body began to explode. The hanger room walls and equipment began to explode in a burst of fire and electricity. The room began to shake and the roof panels fell and broke loose.

The robot head of Xana's new body exploded off from it's neck joint and came crashing down to the floor. The head crashed and was loosing power with sparks and small explosions bursting from the head. "You miserable wretches! What have you done!?" Xana yelled over the explosions going off throughout the room. "You have overloaded the core to this base! It will detonate and send this base crashing to the ocean." Xana roared as the head began to go critical. "I was going to usher in a new era of glory with you all as saviors to your land! But no matter now, I'm going to die here, but at least you all will in this base too. Good-bye Lyoko warrior, I will take you all to hell with me!" Xana's final words as the robotic head went critical mass and exploded, sending pieces flying across the room.

The rest of the body began to explode and the gang ran towards the elevator lift while the roof, wall, and floor began to explode behind them. They reached the elevator and opened it up. Alpha plugged into the controls with his chest cables and activated the lift.

"We will ride this lift down to the center level. Apparently this elevator goes down farther then where we started. If we hurry, we could reach the hanger and run out to the landing strip and be extracted by Markus and the combat plane." Alpha explained to them as the doors closed just in time as an explosion hit the door of the elevator lift.

"It will be close, but we don't have much choice. I'll contact Markus once we reach outside." Z said to them.

"Then we don't have a moment to loose. Aracane, make sure Aelita is safe." Jeremie says to their muscle bound friend from within Alpha.

"Don't worry, I will make sure she stays unharmed." Aracane assured him as he held Aelita easily since she barely weighed anything in arms.

The elevator lift ascended down faster then usual since the structure was unstable and loosing power as the gang held on and hoped for the best as the base began to slowly ascend to the ocean.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The core was unstable, the scientists and engineers were scrambling to get the place under control, but to no avail. "Reroute power! Get the core stabilized now!" The head scientist yelled to the others.

"It's no use! The systems are going critical! Abandon the fortress!" Another yelled as he ran from a terminal, only for it to exploded and kill the man and sending his body flying across the room while the other scientists and engineers ran around the place.

A explosive sound rang out as the main energy turbine stopped spinning and exploded and sent the long rod conductor falling from it's many cable holds and supports with the other power conductor turbines exploding as well, making the whole room inoperable and unstable as power overloaded and caused the room structure falling to pieces and killing any unfortunate personnel.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The top of the base was the missile control room. Ukai sat in an high elevated control chair with many targeting monitors in front of him, showing Seadrift City only a hundred or so miles away. Ukai smiled as he got the missile and cannon systems ready to fire. Suddenly the whole room began to flash red with an alarm system going off and the screens all turned red with warning signs.

"What's going on? What's happening?!" Ukai demanded to the men below who also sat in terminals with targeting screens with warning signs on the monitors.

"Powers dropping! Systems failure in all sectors! The fortress is going to crash into the ocean! We need to evacuate the base!" One of the operators yelled just as the room began to explode.

The monitors overloaded and sent shards of glass and metal flying, killing a few of the missile control operators and system workers.

The room began to shake apart and the equipment began to fall from the roof and crash to the floor. "No, this can't be possible! Xana should have destroyed those punks once and for all! How could they have defeated him?!" Ukai growled as he typed away on one of the keyboards around his chair to find out what happened.

"Master Ukai, we need to evacuate! We need get-" The missile control operator never finished as a large roof panel fell on him and killed him as some large cables landed as well.

Ukai roared in frustration and leaped from his seat and to one of the elevators while throwing and pushing some of the men aside to get in the elevator lift first.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Smoketay took a deep drag from his cigar as he noticed the whole base alarms going off as the soldiers and assassins and other form of troops running around the base in a panic, struggling to get to the escape planes and helicopters.

Smoketay flicked some ashes off his cigar and looked around. "Well... looks like those kids took out Xana. Strange, I actually thought that something like that was impossible." He shrugged as he took another puff from his cigar. A crashing sound was heard and he looked up to see many roof panels and inner parts falling right on top of him. Smoketay quickly put up a smokescreen above him and the roof parts turned to ash as it hit.

With the roof panels gone, he lowered his smokescreen. "I guess I should take my leave. No doubt Ukai will be making his way to our personal plane-copter. I should get there before he takes the good seat." Smoketay said to himself as he casually walked to the hanger bay area.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The large black military cargo plane with the two rotatable end thruster engines with two smaller ones in the back, stayed real close to the base the whole time. Ever since the gang got off, Markus had the pilots keep tracking the floating base while keeping a safe distance and out of the anti-aircraft weapons. Inside the plane, Markus was in the computer control room watching the monitors as the outer parts of the base began to explode like bombs going off at various intervals all across the rock and exposed metal surfaces.

"Yes! I said fly back to the takeoff strip where we dropped them off in the first place!" Markus ordered into the com he was wearing on his ear.

"What makes you think those kids will go back there? That place may be too unstable to even walk on, and that base is slowly ascending down into the ocean." The human pilot radioed back.

"They will be there, I know Z. It's the only open place they could go to hop back on. Now hurry, we don't have much time. I'll go down to the back cargo-bay and get ready to help them back in. You guys switch to hover mode once you get to the strip, and I'll do the rest." Markus ordered as he left the room to the cargo-bay.

"Just to let you know, this counts as hazard-pay, and that costs extra." The Cataranion pilot reminded Markus as he spoke into the com, and the plane began to fly towards the bases landing strip.

()()()()()()()()()()

The gang held on as the elevator lost it's traction and slid down the shaft at a unsafe speed. The gang held onto the sides as the elevator got faster. Aracane had to hold Aelita over his shoulder while keeping a firm grip on one of the handles.

"This things going to crash at the very bottom if we don't get it to slow down!" Yumi called out.

"There's an emergency stop near the control. Someone hit it, hurry!" Z yelled as he held onto the bar with his right hand.

"I got it guys!" Ulrich called out as he reached for the emergency button and hit it with his hand. The elevator began to slow down with a screech until coming to a slow and groaning stop.

"That was nuts!" Miodelus shouted as the gang got back on they're feet.

"Alpha hurry. Get this elevator down to the level we need to be to reach the hanger-bay before this base crashes into the ocean with us in it." Deotalus asked him.

"Understood. I can put my power into the elevator and get us to the right level." Alpha responded as his chest cables came out and plugged into the controls. "Good news. We only have a few levels to go until we reach the hanger-bay level. I will have the elevator locked in place once we reach the correct floor." Alpha said to them as he took control of the elevator and ascended down at a normal speed.

Finally the gang made it out and into another level and wasted no time as they ran down the hall and towards the hanger area. The whole place was in pure panic. The walls and corridors exploded and shook as the gang began to feel the gravity getting light from the rapid dissension of the base.

They turned a corner and ran into a row of troops pointing guns at them. "We got you kids now! Prepare to die!" One of them shouted as they aimed. The gang got prepared for the worst until an explosion burst out from another hallway the troops were standing in and set them on fire or flying through the hall, clearing a path for the gang.

The base was getting more unstable, the explosions and rumbling got worse as the rocky bottom of the base began to skim the surface of the ocean. The gang dodged falling roof panels and large shards of metal and live wires sparking all over the place. Ulrich was a little ahead of the gang as they ran down the halls. Suddenly the hallway they were in shook and the floor gave out and landed onto the level below as Ulrich almost fell in. William and Yumi reached out and pulled him back just before he fell in.

"This way is defiantly unusable." Ulrich slightly joked as they turned around and headed down another hallway. The troops in the base at this point ignored the gang as they too tried to get to the escape vehicles throughout the base, even though the casualty's will still be very high.

()()()()()()()()()()

Ukai ran through the exploding halls like a tiger on the run. He ran on all fours while pushing and shoving troops aside without a regard for they're lives as lumbered through. Finally he burst through a door and into a private hanger where a long but large helicopter with wings at the sides and the copter blades folded up like a fan and pointing back and resting on a landing pad. Ukai ran to it and opened the side door and leaped into the large sitting area and headed to the cockpit and turned on the controls.

"I'm so happy you were waiting for me before taking off." A mocking voice called out to him.

Ukai turned with a growl and saw Smoketay sitting in a chair and lighting a cigar. "Oh great, I thought you were catching another escape vehicle?" Ukai grumbled.

"Now, now beastly. There's no reason to get all fidgety. Let's just get out of here before the base falls on us. We need to head to the fallback base across the ocean." Smoketay says to him with a puff from his cigar.

"Don't give me orders! It's bad enough Xana is gone, and those little punks are getting away alive." Ukai practically roared as the engines at the wings tips turned on.

"Calm yourself and fly before the roof comes down on us. The sooner we get to the fallback base, the sooner we can begin our recovery process operation." Smoketay replied as he leaned back in his chair.

Ukai wasted no more time and began to pilot the plane-copter. The wing engines turned downward and the back engine as well began to lift the plane-copter off the platform. The doors slide open and revealed an opening near some of the rocky surface of the outer part base. The plane hovered, pointing at the door and flew out. The plane was caught in the heavy wind for only a moment and flew off for a mile or so until the copter blades rotated from it's folded position and started up as the wing engines stopped and the plane-copter flew off into the moonlit morning.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The gang finally reached the hanger-bay. The troop helicopters and carrier planes were falling from their hangers as the hanger-bay was also effected by the falling base. Many troops managed to escape in the troop copters and carrier planes, but some still got caught in the blasts. One of the copters full of troops was taking off out the main bay door and onto the takeoff strip only to have a large hanger system fall and crash into it in a fiery explosion that sent one of the copter blades flying towards the gang. They dodged just in time as it stuck into the floor.

The gang made it out and onto the takeoff strip. Z put his right finger to his ear and spoke. "Markus! We need an evac now. Are you near?" Z shouted as the wind whipped against them.

A crackling sound was heard and Markus voice came in. "We're on the way my boy, just hold on!" He replied back. An engine roar was heard and the gang looked up and saw the black plane gleaming against the three moons.

The plane turned it's engines downward and hovered over the middle of the takeoff strip. The back cargo-bay opened, only a few feet off the ground. Markus stood just at the top of the cargo-bay lift as the gang forced themselves through the wind as the base shook harder and began to fall apart and explode more.

The gang reached the floating plane as it struggled to hold it's place against the powerful winds and the falling fortress. The gang leaped onto the cargo-bay lift a few at a time. Deotalus and Bel'la stood at the edge and held out the end of their staff weapons to pull some of them on. Aracane leaped on without a problem while still holding Aelita in his arms. Kairaree held out her hand to help Z up since all that was left of his left arm was a broken stub passed the elbow. Alpha leaped on and landed hard on the door.

Markus radioed the pilots and told them to take off as the cargo-bay door closed and the plane flew off. The gang looked out the windows and saw the base in it's final stage of self destruction. The explosions rang out through the dark morning. Xana's base slowly sank into the ocean while it finally went critical mass and exploded in a white flash that seemed to light up the dark morning for only a few moments and faded away just in time to see the top part of the mountain base sink into the ocean.

The gang had won. They cheered and cried in victory. Markus patted Z on the back. "Hey Z my boy, you look like you could use an extra hand." Markus said as he broke out in laughter.

"Very funny Markus. A real laugh riot." Z replied at little frustrated, but let his joke slide so as not to ruin the moment of the gang victory.

Their cheer was short lived as Alphas chest plates opened and Jeremie was rematerialized out of his body. Jeremie didn't say a word as he ran over to Aracane. "Aelita, Aelita please be okay." Jeremie called out as the others turned and remembered what happened earlier. Aracane gently laid her on the floor while still holding her head and body up as Jeremie knelled down and took her head and body in his arm.

"Her breathing's shallow and still not responding, but we still don't know the extent of how badly she's hurt." Aracane said as he got back up to leave her with Jeremie.

The gang gathered around as Jeremie held her close and tears began to come down his face. They didn't know what to do, and their wasn't much medical equipment on the plane.

"You saved us Aelita. You saved us andso many people in the city. I just wish you could see it, see how much of a hero you are." Jeremie said as he held back from sobbing and held her close to his chest and in his arms.

Tears began to form at some of the others eyes as Markus stepped back and ordered into his com to the pilots to put the boot down and head to the city as fast as possible to treat Aelita.

Jeremie trembled as he gently rocked Aelita in his arms and softly rubbing her back. Worried for the life of the pink-haired girl. "Jere...mie..." A soft voice said to him.

The gang gasped and Jeremie gently loosened his hold on her to see her green eyes looking at him with a small smile. "Aelita! Your awake! Thank goodness. Are you all right?" Jeremie asked with joy as the gang gathered around to greet their now conscious friend.

"My body hurts, but it's not unbearable." She answered. "Did you guys do it? Did you all defeat Xana? How did you all manage to destroy him and save me?" Aelita asked them.

The gang gasped a little and looked at her curiously. "Aelita... you don't remember?" Odd asked her.

"Aelita, is was you who defeated him." Ulrich added.

"Me!? How could I have possibly defeated Xana?!" Aelita asked surprised as she tried to sit up better.

"You shot an Energy Field at Xana, right in his face and overloaded him and sent the base sinking to the bottom of the ocean." Yumi answered.

"My analysis showed that Aelita's Energy Field overloaded the power core to the base since Xana's new body was connected to it for power." Alpha explained to the gang.

"I don't... I don't remember firing and Energy field at Xana. All I remember was being held and crushed by Xana's hand before passing out. And more importantly, how could I possibly shoot an Energy Field outside of Lyoko! We don't have our powers." Aelita questioned with surprise.

"Hey we never been in Lyoko, but we still managed to take down Xana without any fancy powers, and so did you guys." Eli'ton said to the Earth gang with a smile.

"There's no point in talking about it now guys. Let's just get you treated Aelita." Jeremie smiled as he lifted Aelita up in his arms. Even for him, she was surprisingly light.

"I have done a full scan on Aelita, her vitals are stable and she isn't in any imminent danger. For now I suggest you all rest. Your bodies and minds are overtaxed from all the physical strain you all endured." Alpha suggested to them.

"Seadrift City is only two hours from here. We will land in a private section of the airport where a Zarcanion safe-house is. You guys could rest and get organized on what you need to do next." Markus said to the now happy gang.

"Thanks Markus, we could use the rest." Z replied to him.

"No problem kids. I can call in a doctor to check over your little friend and Z, you could use an update on your leg and a new arm anyway. And the building has a workshop where you can repair your robot pal." Markus added. As he looked at Z's armless sleeve and Alpha who still sparked every now and then from the damaged areas.

"My damage is moderate, but manageable. I can wait for repairs until then." Alpha replied as a single spark popped from his head.

The gang laughed and headed to the seating area with Aelita in Jeremie's arms. They reached the room and took seats and lied down while Jeremie gently put Aelita down. Markus came back with some pain pills until they could treat her later and Jeremie helped her swallow the pills and she fell asleep in moments. They all fell asleep in their chairs and couches only minutes with Alpha standing next to the door as if he was guarding them.

The plane flew until the city came into view as some of the gang got up to see it from the plane. The city was like any modern city, but was around ten feet below sea level with a long metal and concrete wall spanning five miles across to keep the ocean back with it's docks and ports built in front of the levee like dam.

The sun was beginning to come up. It was past 6:00AM as the black plane flew near an airport with a long landing strip pointing towards the sea. Some planes were taking off and landing as their plane turned to a private strip fenced off from the airport.

The plane slowly reached the landing zone with the engines turned down to land by hovering. The landing gear popped out and the plane finally touched down. The rest of gang began to wake up and finally got off through the cargo-bay door and thanked the pilots again and headed towards a warehouse like building with Aelita back in Jeremie's arms, still asleep while the others carried the packs they had with them and stored on the plane the other day.

The private landing area was big enough to hold several large planes with the warehouse the gang was heading to. The place also had a long docking building for repairing planes. A tall radio control tower for the private planes, and a big storage shed for taking care of the grounds.

Markus opened the door and reviled a large and homey looking room. There was a long couch with a wide-screen TV with a long couch which Odd quickly jumped on and grabbed the remote and turned on the TV without a word. Sam rolled her eyes at Odd's actions, but was too tired to do anything right now.

In the back was a large open kitchen that wasn't fancy, but still well built. There was a large open showering area for several people to shower. A door lead to the garage area where the gang will repair Alpha later. In the back was a big bedroom with several cots in storage closets for later.

"Well here we are guys." Markus said as he presented the place to them. "The fridge and cabinets are fully stocked with food and drink, and I'll trust you all not to touch the alcohol in the fridge. I'm going to call a doctor to get your friend Aelita treated. So just sit back and relax and I'll see you all in a hour or two." Markus finished as the gang got fully in the building and headed to the door.

"Thanks Markus, but where are we going to treat her?" Jeremie asked as he gently laid Aelita on a reclining chair and pushed it back.

"This place is a Zarcanion safe-house, so there's a medic room in the back with some hospital equipment, right Markus?" Z asked him as he took off his coat and rolled up his sleeve to reveal what was left of his left arm.

"Yeah, it's in the back. I'm also going to call in our prosthetic specialist to finally get your limbs updated. You've grown a few inches in the last few months anyway. I'll see you all again soon." Markus says to them as he closed the door and left.

Some of the gang wasted no time to fix themselves some food of various types, from sandwiches and soups and even got a cake baking while the others just relaxed with Odd flipping through channels. Z went to the medic room and pulled out a few first-aid kits to treat their wounds and bruises, but thankfully their clothes fared well in the fight.

It was around 7:30AM when Aelita woke up with a little bit of pain still running through her. "Hey guys, is this the safe-house Markus was talking about?" She asked the gang as they clattered about.

"Yes it is Aelita." Jack answered her as he picked up a plate from the counter. "Here, have some sandwiches that Kairaree and Deo helped made." Jack placed the plate of various sandwiches by her side.

"Thanks Jack. I'm starving." Aelita replied as she grabbed a sandwich and ate.

"Glad to see Xana didn't squeeze your appetite away princess." Odd laughed as he put his fourth plate on the coffee table while still flipping channels.

"Will you just pick a channel already!" Ralfaius shouted as he sat next to him on the couch and was getting tired of the channel flips.

"Don't reminded me guys, I'm actually starting to remember what happened." Aelita chuckled as she ate another sandwich.

"Are you still in pain Aelita?" Yumi asked as she took a seat next to her.

"A little all over, but it's not as bad as it used to be. I just still wish I could figure out how I used my Energy Field outside of Lyoko?" Aelita replied as she took a drink from a water bottle Yumi brought her.

"Well whatever the reason you were able to use your Energy Field, you saved us and the people of this city. We're all very proud of you. Your the hero today." Jeremie says to her as he put his hand on her's. Aelita smiled and blushed while the others cheered and clapped for her.

"Hey what's going on here?" Odd said out loud. The gang turned to him as Odd was flipping the channels. The TV screen was scrambling and fading.

"What did you do now Odd? I expect things like this from Miodelus, and we don't need another guy screwing things up." Ralfaius says to him as he tried to take the remote.

"Hey...!" Mio said out loud with his hands at his hips.

A image began to come into view against the black screen. The image became clear and the gang gasped when they finally saw what it was. It was the symbol of Xana.

"There you all are. I found you miserable bastards!" Xana's voice hissed through the screen with the white symbol pulsing in the center.

"No... no we killed you! Your dead Xana!" Jeremie said stunned as the others gathered around in the living area.

"How is this even possible? Your whole body was destroyed in the base when it went down." Ulrich added.

"There should be nothing left of you in that base at the bottom of the ocean Xana." Yumi said with gritted teeth and her anger boiling.

"Once again your foolishness amuses me. You all may have destroyed my body, but my mind lives on. In time I will have a new body, and I will end you all at my hands. Enjoy your short lived victory. The destruction of my base is a loss, but only a minor setback in my grand plans. So take your time and I will be reborn again, greater then before. Take care warriors, I will see you all again real soon." Xana's final words said as the image faded away and returned back to the normal channel.

The gang either sat back in their couches and chairs or just stood in shock. Xana was still alive and will be coming back again soon. Aracane put a hand to his head and took a deep breath. "Somehow... I had a feeling this was too easy." He said as he leaned back in the couch.

"It's not over yet guys. As long as Xana is alive, we can't stop fighting until he's dead for good." Kairaree chipped in from her seat.

"Ain't no rest for the wicked. Kinda like that actually." Knulgen smiled as he shoved a whole half sandwich in his mouth and ate noisily.

"You know guys, I'm actually glad it's not over... in a sense of course. There's still so much to do together, and we're only just getting to know each other too." Bel'la said to cheer them up.

"As long as Xana lives, he's a treat to all beings on our worlds. I swear on my scythe I won't rest until Xana's gone for good." Leadonus says to them as he held his scythe.

"If Xana is still alive, then it is my sworn mission to terminate him permanently." Alpha chimed in with his eyes glowing slightly red.

"Then we will fight him again when the time comes guys. We've gotten this far, we can do it as long as we do it together." Jeremie said as he got up from his seat.

"As the chosen warriors we are. As the friends we are. But more importantly, as the family we are." Aelita said as she leaned up and took Jeremie's and Yumi's hands.

The two knew what she was doing as Yumi took Ulrich's hand. He then took Sam's hand, which she then took Odd's and he took Ral's hand, then he took, Mio's hand. The goofy young brother took Deo's hand who then turned to take Lea's hand and then took Bel'las hand and she took her brothers Eli'tons hand who then took Jack's as he reach for Z's left shoulder since his metal left arm was just a broken stub. Kairaree surprised him by taking his right hand and smiled at him as she took Aracane's large hand. Knulgen groaned in annoyance as Aracane roughly took his hand and squeezed as a warning. Knulgen rolled his eyes and took Williams hand. He reached out and took the large finger of Alphas, who then reached out and took Jeremie's free hand. Completing the gang in their large circle.

They all held there for a few minutes, confident in their battles ahead and united as one. The Earth members of the gang haven't held hands like this since the time when Xana escaped from Lyoko and out into the Earths internet and digital sea. They defeated him before, and once again they held hands on a new world with new friends and members in their gang.

They were nineteen warriors, they came from different walks of life and species. They stood together united in their cause to defeat Xana. There was still many trials and battles ahead they must do. But as long as they stand together, there is nothing that will defeat them in their ultimate journey.

**END CHAPTER.**


	32. THE SEWER MONSTER OF SEADRIFT CITY

**CHAPTER 32: THE SEWER MONSTER OF SEADRIFT CITY**

The gang broke from their hand holding and went on with their business. After half an hour or so, they heard a knock at the door. "Guys it's me, Markus. I'm here with the doctor and limb specialist." Markus called from the other side of the door.

"Just a moment Markus." Z called as he silently gestured to Alpha to put his mask on. Alpha nodded and went to one of the packs the gang had and fished out his metal mask with the cloak sewn onto it. Alpha wasted no time and put it on and sat down on a lounge chair in the corner.

Ulrich opened the door and Markus walked in with a female arachun doctor and a human man in a long white baggy coat with two big metal briefcases in hands. The female arachun doctor was barely in her thirty's with small glasses and dull yellow eyes and light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore simple gray pants and black top with a white doctor coat. The human man had dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes. He was middle aged with some wrinkles. He was dressed similar to Markus except for his white coat.

"Well we're here. The doctor will check up on Aelita while we work on your new limbs Z." Markus smiled as they walked in.

"How did you get these people here so fast and on such short notice?" Yumi asked him.

"These are some of our specialists. Let's just say that they are 'on call' when it comes to Zarcanion business and matters." Markus answered him.

The doctor walked over to where Aelita and Jeremie were. "Hello there, I'm doctor Nasako. I assume this is the patient?" She asked them in a kind voice.

"Yeah she is, do you want us to take her to the medic room?" Jeremie asked.

"The sooner the better. I need to give her a full physical to see how bad the damage it." Doc. Nasako said as Jeremie helped pick her up and the three headed to the medic room.

"Well since their getting her fixed up, I'm going into the workshop to get my chest armor fixed from this dent." Eli'ton said as he got up and headed for the shop.

"I'll help you Eli, I want to see how bad your injury is, and help you out on your armor. Remember what happened the last time when you needed to fix your helmets face plate lock?" Bel'la asked as she picked up a first-aid kit.

"Don't remind me." Eli'ton replied to his sister.

"What happened last time?" Odd asked from the couch.

"Don't ask!" Eli'ton shot back as Bel'la closed the door and Odd just shrugged and continued to flip through channels.

Jeremie laid Aelita on a medic bed while the doctor turned on some of the equipment. "Now I'm going to need to take some of your clothes off while I give you a physical." She said to Aelita. "So I'm going to have to ask you to leave young man." Doc. Nasako said to them as she gently shooed him.

"But Jeremie needs to know how bad I'm hurt and so do the others." Aelita said to her as she tried to get up, but winched from the pain.

"It's alright Aelita. I need to do some things in the workshop anyway. I'll send Yumi in for any help the doctor needs." Jeremie smiled to her as he left the room. He went to Yumi and asked her to help Aelita out. He then directed Alpha, who was still wearing his mask cloak, followed Jeremie into the workshop. Ulrich, Deotalus, and Aracane followed behind to give Jeremie and Alpha help in fixing the robots damage.

Across the room Z, Markus, Kairaree and the man in the white coat sat on another couch set with Z sitting in the middle. Z took off his coat and boots with Kairaree's help. He then removed his padded pants down to his black boxers to revile the metal right leg. It was dark gray with heavy plating for protection and even had all five toes in flat but rounded shapes for stability.

Z then removed his black top and vest. Kairaree slightly gasped when she got a look at his body. He was very well toned and muscular, but had a number of healed bullet wounds and cuts. The right side of his rib cage looked like he had one or two missing rips, and even had a few pellet sized scars near his abs, most likely a buckshot round from a shotgun. The most disturbing wound was a bullet hole scar that was near his heart and had an exit scar right on his back where the front wound was.

"_Is this what the life of a Zarcanion really is like? He has so many scars. How can he handle so much pain and responsibility?"_ Kairaree thought to herself as Z stretched.

"Well let's get to it. We haven't got all day." Z simply said as he sat back in his chair.

"Now, now young Zar. These things take time, and I'm sure you could all use the rest." The white coat man chuckled as he lined the briefcases on the counter top.

"We didn't get your name. Are you a friend with Z?" Kairaree asked him.

"My name is Kyle, and no I haven't met Z in person before. I spoke to him and Markus over communications a number of times and built his first set of limbs a few years ago. My mild-mannered day job involves making prosthetic limbs. Not made of powerful metal material of course, those are illegal now these days, but I specialize in working for the Zars when they need me." Kyle replied as he flipped the locks on the cases open.

"Kyle can be a little egotistical in his work. We have many people that make us specialty limbs that involve our line of work." Markus informed them as Kyle gave him a look.

"Well these will be some of the best Z ever had. I just need to see how much he's grown in the past few months before I attach his new limbs." Kyle smiled as he took out a digital measuring tool meant for arms and legs. Kyle ran the device over Z's right arm a few times at different angles and then over his left leg a few times before reading the results.

"You have defiantly grown by six inches since the last time I built your limbs. I will need a few minutes to adjust the size of your new leg and arm." Kyle said as he turned and opened the cases. The arm and leg in the cases were in a 'folded' position in the cases with some tools and equipment in the holding slots of the cases.

"While your working on that, Z can take his old leg and broken arm off. I'll give you a hand." Markus said as he sat down beside Z and helped him take off the broken left arm. Markus started by unlocking the connection cables under the thin plate on his left shoulder, then disconnected the locking gear under Z's armpit and the limb gently slid out with a cord and joint like part, leaving a small hole near where the joint of his left arm would be surrounded by rubber like material for protection and insulation.

"Haven't taken that off in a long time. I usually just fix my left arm while it's still connected to me." Z said as he reached for his right leg and did the same thing that Markus did and the leg came off with a snap. Kairaree put the two limbs on the table while Kyle worked by taking the limbs apart in the joint areas and built in extension parts to accommodate for his natural limbs.

"I've never seen full metal limbs up close before. It's amazing how you can attach metal and wires to a persons body and function like a normal body part." Kairaree said as she watched Kyle work.

"The old limbs are an amazing process. Wires connected to the very nervous system inside the body, gears and parts fused to the bones and insulated padding for protection and insulation for the person. An almost tragic lost art and predecessor to today's prosthetic limbs." Kylie explained as he finished reassembling the new right leg.

"Whether a lost art or advancement into modern medicine, it survives my needs to get around." Z added in.

"Well Kyles ready now to attach your new limbs. So let's get you back on your feet and arm to continue this 'lost art' that our friend boasts so much about." Markus chuckled as he got up from the couch so Kyle could have some room.

Kyle moved the legging of the boxers up a little and slid the end of the leg limb in as Z did the rest by locking it into the similar connection joint like on his left shoulder. Z twisted the locks and connection cables into place as the right leg twitched a little, signaling that the leg was connected.

"Now that's more like it." Z says to them with a smile as he got up and walked around a little. "This is so much better! I feel completely even and balanced now." Z stepped around and jumped a little to get the feel of his new leg.

"And that's not even the best part. These new limbs are made from lighter, but much stronger material that won't slow you down or break as easy. I also added a little something special to your new arm." Kyle smiled as he picked up the end of the arm and connected a cable from the briefcase into the joint and turned the machine on and sent a current through the arm.

The arm twitched and the forearm flipped open and revealed a long gun barrel like a SMG. The hand folded down the arm halfway at the trigger handle. "A hidden gun arm! I've always wanted something like that." Z practically shouted as he looked at the arm.

"It fires SMG ammo with both full-auto and burst fire. The ammo magazines are the sideways kind with a slot near the elbow for loading the ammo. It will take you some time to train yourself to open and close it on command. Just remember to roll up your sleeve before using it." Kyle warned as he disconnected the cable and the gun folded back in.

Z sat back down and Markus helped hold the arm in the joint while Kyle connected the cables and locked the joint in. His arm twitched and began to move. Z moved the arm around, then touched each tip of his fingers with his thumb and then took a few swings with his arm and finally made the gun fold out and fold back in. "Now I'm back to full operation. And this new arm will give me a tactical advantage over any enemies we will encounter." Z smiled as he began to put his clothes back on.

"Just try to go easy on the new limbs for now. It takes time to build specialty prosthetic for people in your line of work." Kyle says to him while packing up the old leg and what was left of the left arm and the tools that were in the briefcases as well.

"Oh I plan to take very good care of these new limbs, as well as anybody that gets in my path." Z replied as he put his coat on and a glove on his left hand.

"Thanks again Kyle. I'll show you out and we will complete the transaction into your account for your service." Markus said as he headed for the door.

"It's my pleasure to get people back on their feet, or give them an extra hand." Kyle chuckled as he picked up a briefcase. "And Z, take care of yourself and your friends." Kyle turned and held out his hand to Z.

"Likewise Kyle, hope to see you again soon under normal circumstances that wont always involve fixing me up." Z smiled as he shook Kyle's hand in return. Kyle grabbed the other briefcase and walked out the door and leaving Z and Kairaree alone. "Kairaree, I just want to say sorry." Z suddenly said to her.

She turned to him and saw him looking down at his feet as if he was embarrassed. "Sorry? Sorry for what?" She asked him.

"For not... for not telling you guys. I didn't fully trust you all, and I'm just not good with talking to others besides other Zarcanions and people in my line of work." Z said as he sat back down on the couch.

"I understand, a lot of people are uncomfortable with people that have your kind of prosthetic. But you don't need to keep secrets from us. We're all on the same side, and we need to have each others trust I f we're still going to be fighting together, now that we know Xana is still alive and out there somewhere." kairaree explained as sat down beside him.

"I know, and I will try. But at least now I got a new arm and leg. The next time I see Xana, I'll be ready for him, and punch that symbol right off his face." Smiled to her as swiped his arm in the air again.

In the workshop Eli'ton gently took his body armor off with his sisters help since it hurt to lift his arms up. Finally he got it off with only his leg armor still on. He took his baggy sleeveless shirt off for Bel'la to look. On the center of his chest where Xana palm slammed was a fist sized bruise that was deep black and blue.

"It's a lot worse then we thought, but it's not serious. Thankfully your sternum isn't broken, or you would really be in trouble." Bel'la said as she looked over the bruise and opened the first-aid kit.

"My armor might have saved my life for all we know. When Xana hit me, it felt like the wind was knocked right out of my body that I needed to open my face plate just to breath." Eli'ton said as he winched from his sisters light touch on his bruise.

"Well I guess I take back everything I said about you wearing your armor all the time." Bel'la laughed as she gently put some medicine salve on his chest then carefully put a square bandage on his chest as Eli'ton braced for the pain.

"There, good as new for my little brother. Just don't let Xana do that again to you." Bel'la waged her finger like a mother gently scorning her child.

"Hey... I'm only a minute younger then you! Your big head allowed me to slide right out after you were born." Eli'ton shot back at his sister.

Bel'la lightly punched him in the shoulder with a growl. Eli'ton quickly rubbed his shoulder. "Let's just get your armor fixed. I doubt you can wear it with that patch on your chest." Bel'la replied as she got up and went over to the pneumatic hammer table. Her brother got up and dismantled the front chest armor until it was at the center part where the dent was.

The two went to work right away with the hammer. Eli'ton held the armor in place while Bel'la worked the hammer speed. The plating began to take it's normal shape after a few runs until finally the armor was pounded back to normal. Eli'ton then smoothed away the scratches and reassembled his armor and put it all back on with the helmet folded away.

"Well my armors fixed. Thanks again sis, let's just hope we don't have to deal with something like that again." Eli'ton chuckled as he adjusted the armor.

"No problem. But don't you dare call me big head again. We're completely identical except for the part that we're opposite genders in case you forgot." Bel'la smiled as the two left the room.

Across the workshop where all the tools and equipment were. Ulrich, Deotalus, Aracane, and Jeremie were wasting no time in fixing Alpha as he stood near them while they gathered tools. They took off some of the plating that Alpha unlocked from his body and placed them on a bench.

Jeremie went to work with internal systems of Alpha's body. Some of the cabling and internal mechanisms were damaged, but nothing a little bit of soldering and rewiring the systems back together. The others began buffing and cleaning and fixing the armor plating's, which was a tad harder then they thought because of the heavy parts and the unusual durability of the plating.

Alpha instructed Jeremie on the proper way to fix him while running diagnostics on his body. Thankfully nothing was permanent or severe in damage, and even the hardware and processors didn't get damaged or corrupted.

"I still can't believe none of your computer parts got damaged or broken. Your durability is incredible!" Deotalus said to him with a smile as he carried a plating and helped put it back on.

"We should consider ourselves lucky. I doubt they sell the parts Alpha would need in a computer store." Aracane pointed out as he cleaned some plating.

"My systems can withstand incredible temperatures and extreme environments. It will take far more to destroy me or damage my systems." Alpha replied as the plating was locked back in place.

"We still got a few more repairs before your fully operational again. So just sit back and take it easy Al." Jeremie smiled as he connected another cable into his torso.

"I can't sit back, there is nothing to sit on. I am in a standing position." Alpha replied quizzically.

"Still a little stiff in the personality Alpha. Maybe Jeremie should upgrade that part." Ulrich laughed as the others joined in while Alpha tilted his head.

In the medic the doctor Nasako was almost finishing on checking over Aelita while Yumi sat in a chair on the other side of the medic bed. The doctor used an ultrasound system as Aelita lied back in only her underwear, which was just simply pink and plain in color.

"The good news is that I found nothing major or life threatening. There's no torn muscle, no broken bones or ruptured veins and organs. Other then a few hairline fractures on mostly your ribs, you will be perfectly fine." Doc. Nasako explained to them as she put the ultrasound wand back in it's rest.

"That's a relief, but why do I still hurt?" Aelita asked as she got in a sitting position.

"You still have some bruises across your body. But the pain will go away soon. I'll give you some painkillers, and as for your bone fractures, I recommend you don't strain yourself so the fractures don't get worse. Take some calcium supplements for that. Your friends could pick some up at a local pharmacy in town." Nasako explained to them as Yumi helped Aelita put her clothes back on.

"We'll go into town to get some while you just rest here Aelita. We could all use a break." Yumi said to her as she helped Aelita stand up from the bed.

"Yeah, we could use a day or so to lay back and figure out what to do next after or battle." Aelita replied as she began to gently walk towards the door.

After they said good-bye to the kind doctor, the gang came back into the main room to figure out what to do for the day. "We should go out and take a look around town. A little vacation is what we need after our battle with Xana." Ulrich says to them from the couch next to Odd.

"Plus it would be nice to have a day off from killing." Yumi gently said.

"Not for me. I'm getting an itch in my hands right now." Knulgen said without shame.

"But Aelita can't really leave the place on her own. She still aches from Xana trying to crush her." Odd pointed out while still flipping channels.

"It's okay guys, please don't stay on my account. I just want to sleep anyway." Aelita pleaded to her friends.

"I'll stay with Aelita too. Alpha still needs some tuning before he's ready for combat again." Jeremie added as he sat down next to Aelita.

"Sure thing Jer, we'll pick up Aelita's medicine too while we're in town. And it would be nice to look for some supplies and maybe have lunch at a diner." Sam added.

"Will we be able to carry our weapons into the city? I know Xana's down for now, but I don't want to be caught off guard." Aracane asked Z since he would most likely know.

"This city allows holding weapons, but we need to conceal them from view. There should be some cloths we can wrap our weapons in, and I'll just hide my hand guns behind my back." Z answered them.

"How are we going to get into town anyway from this airport?" Miodelus asked them.

"The town is only a fifteen minute walk from this private airport. And there's also plenty of public transport to get further into the city." Z answered Mio.

"Well let's not waste another moment. It's already almost 9:00, so let's hit the town before it gets any later." Odd said to them as he hopped up from the couch and turned off the TV.

The gang went to the workshop and found the piles of cloth in a box near the workbench. They quickly wrapped up their weapons for concealment and headed out the door after saying good-bye to Jeremie, Aelita, and Alpha, the gang went to a office like building where people could pick up luggage and told Markus of their plans as he talked some things over with doc. Nasako.

"Then have fun and remember to check in when you all can." Markus said as he waved them off and the gang left the private airport.

With their weapons wrapped and concealed, they made it into town in no time. The city was alive with activity and people walking around in the less dense part of the town. The gang took the time to look around. Some people looked at them with curiosity since people don't see many wondering warriors in the city. They stopped at a lookout point and saw the long dam that went into the ground and protected the very city from the ocean.

"It's a very nice site, but why make a city here if the lands a few feet below sea level?" Kairaree asked as she leaned on a long rail and looked out.

"It's because this city is over three hundred years old. And when it was found, it was a mining town before it was a city. They built many sewer systems as the town grew into a city. Then a hundred years or so since the town was found, a quake made the land begin to slowly sink, so the people built a massive dam and made it bigger and thicker over time until the land settled and the city grew since." Z explained to her.

"Wow, that's quite a history for this city. It's hard to believe it could have sunk into the ocean. Too bad Jeremie, Aelita, and Alpha aren't here to enjoy it with us." Sam sighed as he leaned on the rail too.

"I know why Jeremie stayed behind." Knulgen said with a smile.

"What are you talking about Knulgen?" Ulrich asked him with a raised eyebrow.

"When Aelita's asleep, Jeremie's going to cop a feel on the sleeping pink head." Knulgen laughed.

Yumi practically ran up and punched Knulgen right in his arm. "Asshole!" Yumi almost shouted.

"That hurt, bitch." Knulgen replied as he rubbed his arm.

"Come on guys, let's not waste the day fighting. Let's go get some medicine for Aelita and find a nice diner for a little brunch." Odd suggested before a fight broke out.

"Good idea, we didn't have much more then a snack when we got in that safe house anyway. So I'm sure some of us are still hungry." Leadonus added.

The gang headed down a street a found a small pharmacy. Yumi went in to pick up the medicine for Aelita. They then walked further down the street and found an outside diner and took a seat at a long table and looked over the menus. After awhile the gang ordered and took the time to just watch the people go by.

"It's nice to relax before we have to go out and look for Xana again." Jack says as he leaned back in his seat with a sigh.

"We'll find him guys. Xana can't hide forever." Bel'la assured them with a smile.

"Hey Mio, go to the newsstand and buy today's paper I want to see what's going on in the city." Deotalus asked his brother as he gave him some money from his pocket.

"No prob-blamo bro Deo." Miodelus said as he took the money and went across the street.

"I hope he doesn't get sidetracked and buy a comic." Ralfiaus says while shaking his head.

Mio made it to the newsstand after dodging a car that honked at him and began to pilfer through the magazines and booklets and finally came across the newspapers and looked for today's paper. His eyes went wide as he read over the headline. Mio quickly paid the man at the stand, (who was happy to see him go) and ran back across the street to his brothers and friends table while dodging another car that honked at him. Mio passed the tables and sat back down in his seat as the food finally came.

As the gang was eating, Mio held the paper up to Leadonus face. "Guys, guys, guys! Look at the paper, your not going to believe it!" Miodelus said as he waved the paper.

Leadonus looked at the paper so his brother would calm down. "A car dealership is having a 20% discount on all vehicles from 12:00pm to 3:00pm," Leadonus read the paper out loud to the gang. "That's nice Mio but... we don't even have licenses." Lead reminded his brother.

Mio quickly looked at the page he had the paper on and realized his mistake. "What? Oh wait, that's the wrong page." Mio laughed as he flipped the page and held it to Deo instead.

Diotalus took the paper and looked at the headline. He then read the article to his friends who were curious to find out what it was. "Sewer monster spotted again. Sightings from sewer workers spotted a large being wondering the sewers near the sewer lines that connect to the city's dam system. The sightings have become more frequent, as with strange noises and supposed roars heard by workers and even an unconfirmed attack by the monster, making this the seventeenth report this month. City officials have searched for any evidence of the supposed sewer monster, but have turned up no evidence and some officials still believe that the sewer monster is nothing more than an elaborate hoax and advise people not to take drastic action until the case is resolved." Deotalus read to them and then turned the paper around to show a blurry picture on the front page that was taken in the dark, but seemed to show a shadow in the sewer from the flash of a camera.

"Well it does sound like a hoax. We get crap like that back on earth with people making up stories all the time." Said William as he took a bit of his eggs.

"So I guess Loch Ness Monster is all a big hoax too? Huh mister Scottish?" Yumi asked him with a smile.

"Hey, Nessy is real. There's been too many sightings to deny it. Even if the first photo ever was fake." William defended.

"Despite whether the sewer monster is real or not, why did you bring our attention to this Mio?" Ralfaius asked his little brother.

"Because we're heroes! We are suppose to do things like this. Plus, what if this monster is real? Or worse, this monster is connected to Xana somehow. He was on the way here to attack this city, and that monster may be another form of attack." Mio pointed out to them.

"Damn... Mio may actually have a point in this. It just seems strange for monster sightings and reports to be happening while Xana planned to attack this city in the process." Aracane said as he looked at his plate.

"Plus guys, look at the bottom of the front page," Said Knulgen as he pointed to the paper. "They have a 1000 dollar reward for a clear picture of the sewer monster. We could always use the cash."

"Well despite the money, we should look into this. Better safe then sorry. Especially if this monster has something to do with Xana." Z said as he finished his meal.

"Wait, we're going to go into a sewer after we ate brunch? That's not a very good image in my head, what with what is in a sewer if you guys know what I mean." Odd pointed out.

"Let's put another image in your head Odd. If there really is a big monster in the sewers and you let your guard down, you might get your head bitten off." Eli'ton suggested as Odd cringed.

"We'll pay the bill and go to the place where the last report was made near the dam area and take it from there. If something is going down even if it may or may not involve Xana, we still have a duty to do something about it." Said Z as he got up to pay.

"The lyoko warriors battle again!" Miodelus almost shouted as the others shushed him.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Back in the safe house Aelita was feeling much better, but still hurting as Jeremie gave her some more medicine for the pain. Alpha was finally back to full function and sitting on a couch silently while Jeremie just leaned back in a chair and watched TV.

"The others have been gone for a while. I wonder what they're up to in the city?" Aelita wondered out loud to the two.

"There are many things they could in the city. I'm sure they will be back soon." Said Alpha as he leaned back in his seat.

"Well I doubt they could get in any trouble. We've had enough of that for awhile. So I'm sure their just taking their time and looking around the city." Jeremie smiled to her, unaware that the gang was about to step into a whole new problem.

()()()()()()()()()()

The gang catch a ride on a city bus and headed to the dam area and even almost got kicked off thanks to Knulgen not listening to the bus driver to stay away from the drivers line. Finally the gang hopped off and went to the dam area near a large dock. The gang spotted a manhole with some banner over it that showed there was workers here awhile ago.

"This must be the entrance where the last report was made. They didn't even take away some of the equipment. Maybe there is something to this after all." Z said as he looked over the manhole from a distance.

"We'll wait until some of these people leave before we jump in." Said Kairaree as she looked around.

The area was busy with people at work with the docks. Ships were sailing away, people were walking up and down the boardwalk like area with small stores all over, and sailors going about they're business and hauling in their catch and sitting near sailor hangouts. The gang spotted a group of sailors where one human man seemed to have the small crowds attention.

"I'm telling you people. A mountain crashed into the sea last night! It was bursting in flame and slowly landed in the ocean with a horrid crash. I was out on my fishing ship a few miles from where the mountain crashed." The man said to the other sailors. He was a pass middle aged human and definitely looked like a sailor.

"Come on Carl, a mountain fell into the ocean. Next you'll tell me a floating city came down and offered you a lift." A lizardin man chuckled.

"Are you sure you didn't have too much to drink again while you were out there alone last night? You know how you tend to exaggerate when you sober up." Said an arachun woman.

"I swear on my mothers grave that the mountain was real and that it crashed into the ocean. And I even saw some helicopters and military like planes fly out! The mountain was only a hundred or so miles from this city!" Carl swore to the sailors.

"Listen Carl, even if it was true, there's no way something like that could have flown around without being detected by radar or even seen. So unless you got footage, there's no other way to prove it." A human sailor said.

"You guys want proof? Let's sail out to where it crashed and dive in and have a look and you will all see for yourselves!" Carl said as he staggered a little.

"Sounds tempting Carl, but we can't just waste fuel to look for something deep underwater. Do you even remember where you were when the mountain crashed?" An aquamarin woman asked.

"Yes I do... well... I kinda forgot. I feel asleep and my boat drifted off course. And when I awoke early in the morning, I was near the dock." Carl said as he rubbed the back of his head.

The other sailors groaned and got up and began to walk away. "It sounds like you passed out and forgot to secure your anchor again. I'm telling you Carl, if you keep doing that, your going to sail out into the ocean one day." A cataranion man said as the other sailors walked away and Carl just shrugged and walked off back to his boat.

The gang smiled a little from the conversation the sailors had. "These people have no idea how close they came to disaster and destruction." Said Aracane.

"Do you think anyone will find the wreckage of the fortress? Would there be any problems if someone did the fortress?" Asked Kairaree.

"I doubt it. Those people really don't seem to believe that old sailor. And like he said, he passed out as the fortress crashed and floated away from the area and doesn't seem to remember the location. So as long as that man looses interest, the fortress will remain at the bottom of the sea for a long time." Z answered her.

"Well the manholes unguarded, let's move guys." Said Odd as he and the rest moved out and reached the manhole cover.

They took a look around to make sure the area was clear. Z stuck his left index finger into the hole used to pull the cover open since his arm is made of metal and dragged the cover off with ease. Z then took a flashlight out and looked in. The bottom wasn't far, so they could all jump in and not waste time by climbing down.

"Well guys, let's hustle before someone spots us." Eli'ton said as he jumped in.

The followed suit and one by one jumped into the manhole. Aracane was the last one to climb in because he stayed to close the manhole lid and climb down the built in ladder.

"Well this is a fun new thing to do. Wondering around in a sewer. I wonder what's next for us? Swimming in an active volcano?" Ralfaius said with heavy sarcasm.

"I still can't believe we're actually in a sewer. We're all going to need heavy showers later." Said Odd.

"Shouldn't you guys be used to this? Didn't you all said you used a sewer line to get to the factory to get to the computer room when Xana attacked?" Deotalus asked the earth members except for Sam and William since he was possessed by Xana most of the time.

"Technically it was mostly a waterway for the river and only a few parts were a sewer line." Yumi answered.

"Regardless on how we got to Lyoko, this place is too dark to wonder through and Z's got the only light. What are we going to do to see?" Ulrich asked.

"I might actually have a solution for all of you." Jack smiled as he held his hands up. "Illuma ralimu." Jack whispered as a ball of light formed. "Okay guys, hold out your hands, I'm going to give you each a light orb." Jack instructed as he waved his hand over the orb he held in the other. One by one, small orbs flew off and floated towards the others who held out their hands.

Each orb gently floated over the hands and stayed in place except for Z since he was contempt with his flashlight. "This is so cool Jack. We can use magic now!" Mio practically shouted as he waved his hand around.

"Well not really. I had the orbs connect to you all, but I could make them disperse at will." Jack corrected him. "Now as for how the orbs work, to make them brighter, simply open your palm and the orbs will grow brighter. To make the orbs dim, close your palm and fingers over the orbs. The tighter you hold, the dimmer the orb will be, but they wont extinguish or burn your hands." Jack instructed and even showed them how the orbs work.

"Now that Jack's taught you guys the basics, let's go hunt a sewer monster. I'm going to place a marker near this manhole ladder when we decide to head back." Z said to them as he took out a little tracking device and placed it near the ladder and turned it on then took out his communicator and locked on to the trackers signal and then took the lead with his flashlight in hand with the others behind him in a close line as they began their search.

An hour passed as they looked. Z was still in lead as the gang walked the narrow sewer walk. The water near them was one of the waste flushes and thankfully happened not too long ago. They kept passing location markers as the orbs kept a steady dome of light for them to see far enough throughout the sewer.

"I really hope we're not going around in circles. This sewer system runs throughout the whole city." Eli'ton said as he slowly waved his orb in hand around.

"There's plenty of manhole lids we can get out through. If we don't find anything soon, we'll leave and come back later." Said Z as he turned his head to him.

Knulgen was right behind Deotalus as his nose began to twitch. "A-choo!" Sneezed Knulgen as he stopped.

"Knulgen! You sneezed on back." Deo almost shouted.

"Oh 'sorry' about that. You might get germs on you when your wondering through a sewer." Knulgen sarcastically apologized as Deo growled at him.

"Guys, knock it off. This isn't the kind of water you want to fall in, if you get what I mean." Sam said to them from the back.

Suddenly a growling sound echoed throughout the sewer. The sound rang out on the walls as the gang gripped their weapons. Z pulled out his gun and cocked the hammer. "Looks like there may be some truth to this sewer monster after all." Z said as the gang began to continue their search.

Further down they went in the sewers until they reached a water treatment area that was better lighted and had more walkways. The water was cleaner, but still sewer water. The gang looked around and noticed some scuba equipment and many wielding tools lying in a corner. "What the hell is this stuff doing here in the middle of the sewer?" William asked.

"This is strange. First the monster, now some scuba gear and wielding tools? It doesn't make any sense for this stuff to be here." Z added.

"Hey guys. I hear something." Miodelus said to them as the sound of footsteps were heard very far from them.

The gang quickly ran around a corner and hid. The gang closed their hands tight over the light orbs while Z simply turned his flashlight off. The sound of footsteps got louder until finally the people came in view as the gang silently watched. There was four of them, a human, a aquamarin, a cataranion, and a lizardin. They looked like common thugs, but looked like they could be part of a mop.

"I told you guys the rest of the equipment was here." The aquamarin said to them.

"Those idiots left this stuff here. They should have brought it back to our base instead." The cataranion thug added.

"If the boss found out that this stuff was left here, he would have torn our heads off. You guys remember what happened to Broga right?" The lizardin said to them. The others nodded in agreement.

"Smashed his damn head right in, then threw his mangled body into the sewer. His body's probably nothing but rotted bones now." The human said.

"Let's just get this stuff back to base as soon as possible. The bosses plan will soon be happening, and we need to be ready with the scuba gear." The cataranion said to them as he grabbed a case of wielding gear.

"The boss sure is crazy with his plan. He's going to blast open the drain gates under the city, then have the water pour in and up throughout the sewers and subways, then we swim in with the scuba gear and wielding stuff and break into the many jewelry stores and banks in the city once it's flooded." The lizardin somberly said.

"The bosses plan is extreme but effective. The city floods and we dive in for the loot." The human shrugged as he leaned against the brick wall.

"You stay here, we'll take the equipment back to base while you take your shift on guard duty." The aquamarin said to him as the others grabbed the gear and walked off, leaving the human alone.

The gang waited a few minutes for the others to be hopefully out of range. The human man then began to pace around then walked off around a corner. The gang silently followed in the dark and low to the ground and in a perfect line and not to far from the man. He entered a drainage area and paced around again.

Z took the lead and signaled to the others to stay while he sneaked up behind the man. Z quickly leaped up and grabbed the man from behind, and before he could even react, Z slammed the man against the wall hard. Z held him against the wall and raised his left fist. "See this fist?" Z asked the man.

"Ye-Yes...?" The man responded. Z punched his fist into the brick wall right beside the mans head, breaking the bricks and sending small chunks flying.

"That's whats going to happen to you if you don't talk. Now tell me who your boss is before I make your face match the wall!" Z demanded as he shook the man.

"Well... the thing is... the boss is kinda..." The human man stuttered.

Near Z and the man, the waterway of the sewer began to bubble. Kairaree spotted it as the bubbling got more intense as something was about to surface. "Z look out! Somethings coming up behind you!" She called out to him.

Z turned just in time as something monstrous leaped right out with a roar and landed on the concrete walkway with a loud thud. The man got out of Z's grip while the beast charged after him and took wild swings.

The others leaped out from their hiding place to help Z. As the others charged, Jack called back the light orbs from the others and combined them together and threw the orb up to light the whole area and gave the gang a good look at the beast.

The so called sewer monster was over seven feet tall. It seemed to be a male just by looking at the body, which was abnormally muscular and well built and it's skin was a very dark green and scaly like a reptile. It's fingers had pointed claws and pointed fin like ears. It's eyes were a dark yellow, and it's teeth were pointed and sharp enough to tear meat. It wore dull long brown baggy pants with a long scaly tail.

The sewer monster viciously growled at the gang as it turned to them. Z quickly pulled out his communicator and turned it to camera mode. The sewer monster turned to Z just as he took a picture of it. The monster grabbed Z by the collar and threw him towards his friends just as Z pocketed it away in his coat.

Aracane managed to catch Z, but sent him falling to the floor too. Knulgen jumped with his sword drawn and swung, but the monster grabbed him by the arm and threw Knulgen in the deep end of the drain water. The four brothers took their turn against the monster.

Miodelus jumped with his nun-chucks twirling, but the monster tail whipped him into the water with Knulgen. Ralfaius and Deotalus attacked at the same time as the monster grabbed the trident and pulled Deo into the water while shoving Ral in with his other brothers.

Bel'la and Eli'ton attacked with their weapons out as the monster roared and charged and knocked the twins into the water hard. Thankfully Eli'tons armor wasn't heavy enough to sink him, but him and the others were still not able to get out of the water.

The others tried to fight back, but the monster made quick work of them as it threw Odd, Sam, Yumi, William, Kairaree, and Jack into the water with ease since the gang was at a disadvantage against the monster and the narrow walkway of the water treatment area.

Z, Ulrich, and Aracane left. "Damn beast, I'll show you." Aracane yelled as he charged and rammed right into the beasts chest. Aracane then threw his fists right in the beasts face and landed a few heavy blows that made even the monster stagger back. The sewer monster grabbed Aracane by the waist and lifted him just as Aracane headbutted the monster. The monster roared and threw him into the water with the rest.

Ulrich charged with his swords drawn and slashed, but the monster spotted him and moved just in time as the very tip of Ulrich's swords lightly scratched the scaly and leathery hid. The monster growled and slapped Ulrich in the head very hard and sent him flying into the water.

"Ulrich, hold on!" Yumi called out to him as she swam over and grabbed him in her arms to help keep him above water until he could get in senses back, but Ulrich was still dazed and loosing conciseness.

Z was the last person against the beast. He swung his metal left fist at the monster, but it quickly grabbed the arm and tossed Z into the water with ease as he finally joined the rest.

"Hey Z, nice for you to join in, the waters just right." Said Deo in a deadpanned tone.

"What the fuck is that monster doing?" Knulgen said as they all turned and looked to see the monster walking towards a control terminal and began to press some buttons.

"This can't be good..." Jack said nervously.

The monster turned to them and pressed a button while it smiled at them. "I don't know why your all here, but it won't matter soon. You kids are going to be flushed away into the sewers and into the ocean and become food for the fish." The monster chuckled and growled in a low rumbling voice.

A loud clank was heard under them. The water began to swirl and sink as the gang tried to swim against the current. One by one they were sucked underwater as they poured into the many sewer tunnels and tubes. They had no idea where they were going and couldn't grab or hold onto anything as the powerful current took them deeper into the sewers while having no air to breath except for the four aquamarin brothers since they're species could breath underwater, but that still did them no good as the whole gang flowed throughout the sewers.

The city was in grave danger as the thugs planned to flood the city just to rob it. And as the gang flowed through the water, some off them amazingly came to the conclusion that the so called sewer monster was in charge of the operation and was the thugs very boss.

**END CHAPTER.**


	33. SEWER SHOWDOWN

**CHAPTER 33: SEWER SHOWDOWN**

The gang tossed and rolled as the water pulled them through the tubes. Their lungs strained as they tried to find a pocket for air. The Surfane brothers tried to help their non-aquatic friends, but even they were overpowered by the flow of the water. It seemed like forever until they fell into a opening and deeply gasped for breath for only a second before being sucked down into another waterway. The murky water made it impossible for them to see and made crashing into a tunnel wall very likely.

The gang was running out of air and their vision was getting blurry, and the four aquamarin brothers feared for the others lives. Suddenly the water began to get bright, and as they flowed, the light got brighter and brighter until they all fell out into fresh air and light as they all fell out one by one from a drainage pipe and hit the muddy sand that was a few feet below them.

They all hit the ground hard and slid all over the place as the water from the pipe still poured out for a minute until it stopped and the gang laid soaked and muddy. It seemed like forever until they all started to regain consciousness. Slowly and sluggishly they got up sopping wet and hurt, but not defeated.

Miodelus was lying on his front body with his face in the sand. He suddenly raised his head and spitted out the sand vigorously. "Whoa! That was crazy!... Let's do that again!" He said with joy as he got up.

Aracane slowly got back on his feet only to fall to his knees. "I'm not going swimming for a long time." He said as took deep breaths.

Yumi rolled on her back and pushed herself up. She coughed a little until she remembered keeping Ulrich from drowning by holding him above water until they got flushed. "Ulrich!" She said in a panic and looked around for him. She spotted him on his side near the shore not moving. "Ulrich!" She called again and tried to get up, but was still too weak to stand and instead crawled as fast as she could to reach him and hope he didn't drown.

She reached him and rolled him on his back. His eyes were closed and didn't seem to be breathing. "Ulrich no! Please wake up." She called to him as she shook him.

Ulrich's eyes opened and he quickly leaned up in a sitting position with his arm on the ground for support. "_cough! cough! cough! cough..._" Ulrich coughed up water hard as Yumi gently pat his back and help keep him up.

"That's good Ulrich, get it all out before you get sick." Yumi kindly said to him as Ulrich got on his knees while still coughing.

"Thanks Yumi, _cough,_ I'm all right now." Ulrich said to her as he slowly got up.

"Do you remember what happened before we got flushed?" Yumi asked him as she got up with him.

"Let's see... I remember facing a sewer monster and all of us getting our asses handed to us before being thrown into what I pray is just water, and then that monster struck me in the head and knocked me into the water, then getting flushed, and then everything got blurry from then on until you started calling my name." Ulrich answered her as the memory's came back to him.

Yumi slowly shook her head and chuckled at his answer. "Well I'm glad that monster didn't knock your sense of humor out of your thick head."

The others were beginning to get back up, but still disoriented and confused. Knulgen shot up onto his feet only to fall back down into the muddy sand. "Shit!... I can't get up." He said.

"Just be glad you didn't drown. We got really lucky on that deal." Ralfaius said to him.

"Easy for you to say, your species can breath in water." Knulgen replied.

"Hey! Flowing in that kind of water isn't very good for us either. Who knows what kind of infection we got in our gills." Deotalus said as he pointed to the gills on his neck. Both sides of the brothers necks had four slits that had red gills 'breathing' before they naturally closed.

"Wow that's cool to see your gills. And even your fingers have webbing between each digit." Odd said with amazement as he came over to look.

"Yes, ours species gills open instinctively as we submerge, and our webbing stretches out between each digit of our fingers and toes for swimming better." Deo explained as he showed Odd his webbed hands before the webbing began to sink back down his fingers.

"The constant need to swim is the reason our species isn't big on finger rings and prefers to wear bracelets, necklaces, earrings, and ring-clips on our dreads." Leadonus added as he carried Ulrich's sabers back to him.

"Thanks Lea for holding onto my blades." Ulrich smiled as he took them back and sheathed them.

"Sure thing. I knew you were in no condition to hold onto your blades, and I knew you would have probably lost them for good. So I dived down and got them before we got flushed." Lea smiled back.

The twins were getting back up. Bel'las light blue hair was all over her and clinging to her body since it was wet, and when Eli'ton got up, water was trapped in most parts of his armor and slowly seeped out of the grooves of his armor.

"Are you all right Eli'ton? The water flooded right into your armor." Bel'la asked him.

"I'm fine sis. I just need to get my armor off and drain the water." Eli'ton replied as he got up and helped her up next.

"I just can't believe that there really is a monster down in the sewer." Kairaree said to them. "Where did it even come from? How could it talk?" She wondered.

"Well whatever it is, Z got a picture, and now we can cash in on the photo." Miodelus reminded them.

"You guys can cash in the photo. I just want a shower and a nap." Sam said as she rubbed her head.

"That wasn't a monster." Z suddenly said. The others turned to him with curious looks.

"That thing wasn't a monster?!" William almost shouted. "It growled at us, it roared at us, and it looked like it wanted to eat us." William pointed out.

"That sewer monster wasn't really a monster. At least to some people he would be." Z replied calmly while slightly glaring at him.

"If that isn't really a monster, then what the hell was it?" Knulgen gruffly asked.

"That so called sewer monster is a lizardin." Z answered them.

The others gasped and at his statement. "What do you mean that monster is a lizardin? They don't look like that." Yumi pointed out.

"Whoever he is, he's not a monster. He has some kind of deformity I've heard of, but we need to get back to our safe house and get cleaned up first." Z said as he began to walk.

"Wait a minute Z, those thugs said the city was going to be flooded and robbed. We can't just walk back to the safe house while the city's in danger." Aracane said as he pointed in the direction of the city.

"Don't be so prideful. Look at the condition we're in. we're waterlogged and shook up, and we can't just go charging in without a plan." Z almost shouted, then sighed to calm down. "We don't know if they're planning to do it in a day or five minutes, but we can't fight now after almost drowning, and going back in the sewer without a plan is just a good way to get killed like a bunch of idiots. That's why we need to go back and figure out what to do before it's too late. Now come on guys, we don't have much time." Z finished as he began to walk again with the squishing sound of his boots sinking into the muddy sand.

The others agreed and began to follow him. Yumi helped Ulrich by putting his right arm over her shoulder while William came and put Ulrich's left arm over his shoulder and helped him walk since he might have a mild concussion. The gang walked down the long sandy beach with the dam behind them. It took them an hour until the airport came into view. They stayed out of the airports range so they wouldn't look like intruders to the security. It was past noon when the gang finally saw the private airport and headed to the safe house.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Inside the safe house Aelita was doing much better and even able to walk around with a small limp. Alpha was finally working back to full function, and Jeremie just relaxed on the couch.

Jeremie was laying back with his eyes closed. Suddenly his nose perked up and he leaned up from his seat from a horrid smell. "My god, what smells like low-tide and sewer?" Jeremie said out loud as Aelita noticed and even Alpha's olfactory sensor 'picked up' the smell.

The door to the safe house was opened by Z. "Us..." Z simply said while still holding the doorknob.

They all walked in without a moment of hesitation while Yumi walked over and put Aelita's medicine on a counter. "Here's your medicine Aelita. Sorry if the bottle is wet, but it's sealed tight." Yumi calmly said to her.

"Yumi! What happened to you guys?" Aelita said with shock at her friends conditions.

"It's a long story, and we don't have much time. The city might be in danger again." Ulrich said as he took a seat.

"The city is in danger again? How is that possible?" Alpha asked them.

"Well you see-" Leadonus tried to start before Markus walked into the safe house.

"Hey kids, glad to see your all..." Markus said to them before the smell hit him. "What in the name of the god is that smell? Did you kids go for a swim in the sewers?" He asked them as he waved the smell away.

"Sorta like that. But that's not the big issue now, we discovered some disturbing." Deotalus added.

"It does sound bad if you guys were in the sewer, so tell us everything." Markus said as he took a seat and waited for their explanation.

The gang took the time to throw their clothes in a heavy duty washer while Eli'ton hosed his armor down and they all took showers with a lot of soap and shampoo. While their clothes were in the dryer, the gang wore simple white clothes and underwear like garments from a storage closet in the safe house. The gang told them everything that happened in the last few hours. They told them how they walked around the city and then stopped for a bite and how they learned about the sewer monster in the newspaper and even showed him a copy that was in the safe house that Markus casually dropped off earlier that day. And then they had to tell them about fighting the monster and getting flushed away.

"I can't believe the monster is real. And even worse, their going to flood the city." Markus said as he thought over what they told him.

"Yeah, their going to flood the city to rob the banks and jewelry stores and any other place that has anything of value." Sam added.

"I just want to know who this guy is." Odd spoke. "Where did he come from? What's he doing in this city?" He questioned.

"I think we might have found something on this guy, but first I need to tell you guys what exactly is that lizardins problem." Z said from across the room. He was sitting in a computer chair next to Jeremie who was also in a chair. They sat at a large computer table with Z typing away while Jeremie connected the communicator into the computers modem.

Z finally pulled up a site that involved deformity's and clicked on the lizardin part and scanned through some pictures and list of lizardin only ailments. "Here," Z said as he pointed to the picture as the others gathered around to look at the photos. "The disease is call 'scalecouous dermuslus' a rare genetic deformity that affects one out of every five million lizardins around the world." Z read as he clicked on the photos.

"My uncle told me about this deformity. I just never saw anyone with it up close before." Kairaree said as she looked closer on the photos. The photos consisted a number of detail about the disease and it's affects. A number of pictures showed hands, arms, legs, feet, tails, heads, torsos, backs, and other parts of a lizardin body in both male and female pictures.

"The disease causes a lizardins skin to grow more scales on the whole body other then the line of scales on a lizardins back." Markus began to read. "The disease is also been known to cause heightened strength, no head hair, sharp pointed teeth, better sense of smell, diet consisted only of meat, and even grow to above average heights." Markus finished with one of the pages.

"No shit. That guy was over seven feet tall and looked like he wanted to eat us." Knulgen said exasperated.

"Just what I thought, it's an evolutionary throwback or better known as atavism. It's the kind of thing that lizardins used to sorta look like millions of years ago. All species on this planet have some form or type of atavism." Deotalus explained.

"That's all nice and everything, but what does that have to do with him trying to flood the city?" William asked while pointing to the screen.

"I thought of that too." Z answered as he clicked on another file. The file he opened was a criminal archive that the Zarcanions can secretly access and open without being traced. Z opened the files and found an old photo of the sewer monster and a number of newspaper clipping. "His name is Calroc Krossjo, born in the deep swamps of Boogato Bog. Abandon as a baby, and raised in an orphanage until being kick out around sixteen for violent behavior and completely unsociable. Hired in a traveling roadshow for the freakshow part of it."

"That's horrible! How could anybody do that to him?" Yumi said in disgust.

Z just simply continued to read the file while clicking on the many pictures and information. "About three years later the ringleader was found violently killed and Calroc was gone. Some years later he was hired by a small time mob boss as both protection and intimidation, but later he killed that mob boss and disappeared for a few years. Apparently he showed up in another far away swamp where an illegal fight club was held and was run by him for a few years again. Then the place was hit by a police raid and Calroc was caught and committed to a hidden research facility for both his insanity and a way to better understand and study the disease. He seemed to go along with it, but after a year or so, he broke out while viciously killing twenty-two of the staff and hasn't been seen since, and that was over seven years ago." Z said as he finally finished reading the file.

"And now he emerges to flood a city. He's gone from petty crook to full fledged criminal, and killing thousands of people just for money and jewels." Ulrich said.

"We need to get back down in the sewer and stop him before he blows the dam and flood the city." Eli'ton said, stating the obvious.

"Hold on Eli, we can't just go in there without a plan or even where we could find them. Who knows how many men that Calroc has at his control." Bel'la said to him.

"She's right about that. We need to find where they are hiding and find out how their going to blow the dam." Aelita pointed out.

"I think I know where their going to blow the dam." Jeremie said as he clicked around on the computer.

Jeremie showed them a schematics and blueprints of the city's structure and zoomed in on the dams entire structure with great detail and design. "The dams too strong to blow above ground. It would take tons of explosives to cause enough damage to make the city flood." Jeremie read to them.

"Plus an explosion at the dam will look like a terrorist attack and cause an immediate response to it and would probably hinder their ability to rob the flooded banks and jewelry stores." Z pointed out. "The best place they could attack is under the city in the emergency drainage system. It's only a bunch of metal doors that open and close." Z said as he pointed to the doors on the computer screen.

"If they blows those doors, the water will flood in and up into the sewers and subways until the water reaches the streets and floods the city. "Jeremie said as he leaned back in his chair. "It will look like a breakdown and will force the people to just leave."

"Then let's get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can take down the explosives and put a stop to that Calroc guy before it's too late." Ralfaius smiled.

"He's right. Grab your clothes guys and we will head out." Aelita said as she turned to the door but limped a little.

"You are still in too much pain to be joining us. You stay behind where it's safe and we will deal with the one known as Calroc and prevent the city from flooding." Alpha said as he got in front of her.

"He's right Aelita, you stay here and we will take him down. It's personal this time since he flushed us down a sewer and almost drowned us." Odd smiled wickedly.

"Let's go then before it's too late. Get your clothes guys. It is time for battle!" Aracane said as he walked to the room where the clothes were drying.

Z got up from his seat. Markus, we need you to go to the city officials and warn them of what's happening, but don't tell them about Calroc or they might not believe you, but try to get the cops ready to arrest any thugs that we force out." Z told him as also went to get his clothes.

"I'll make sure they have a great deal of the police force ready in case that Calroc has a small army of thugs down there in the sewer. Take a communicator and keep me updated on your progress." Markus said.

The others began to load up and put their clothes back on. When Z got done, he went to an weapon cabinet and began to load up on weapons. He got plenty of handgun ammo for his parents guns. He loaded up on ammo clips for his new arm-gun and took out a new shotgun for the sewers narrow corners. The shotgun had a medium lengthened barrel, but the best part was that it had four barrels and could either fire one at a time, or all four at once. Z then grabbed a small assault rifle and ammo.

The gang was ready and headed back out the door. Aelita stood at the door to see them off. "I hate that I can't help, but you guys are right. I can't help right now in the condition I'm in, so stop that Calroc before the city is flooded." Aelita encouraged them.

"No worries princess, we'll take out the sewer monster and I'll be sure to punch someone in your name." Odd smiled to her.

"Alright guys, Markus is heading to the city's chief of police while we take down Calroc and his plan before they blast the drainage doors. So let's make sure that doesn't happen." Z said as they all began to walk off and out of the private airport with Alpha wearing his disguise on and Jeremie joining up with them until it was time to be uploaded into Alpha's systems.

They ran the whole way until they reached an old maintenance tunnel entrance near the city's far end of the dam behind a building thanks to Alpha leading them to it since he downloaded the entire schematics and directions to the city's sewers. The entrance was blocked off with a grated gate and many chains covering it to prevent people from getting in.

"This is the fastest way through the sewers until we reach the floodgate systems." Alpha said as he began to crush the locks in his hands with ease until all the chains were pulled off and opened the gate. He was still wearing his mask and cloak, and decided it was best to keep it on.

"At least we won't have to go through a manhole to get in." Odd said.

"Well guys, back into the sewer we go to repay our scaly friend for flushing us down a filthy waterway." Ulrich said as he drew his sabers.

"Okay Alpha, load me up." Jeremie said as he stood in front of Alpha with his back to the robot.

"Understood." Alpha said as his chest opened and his cables wrapped around him and loaded him into his core and the gang began to walk down the maintenance tunnel as Ralfaius closed the gates behind them.

The gang found the sewer way in no time. They brought flashlights with them this time and Alpha lead the way. Two panels on his shoulders opened and two flashlight like devices turned on and lighted the way better for them. Alpha showed them the way with a digital map being shown from his 'point of view' and marked the locations as they walked down the sewer they finally entered a water treatment area and the gang knew they needed to be on their guards for the place could be trapped or have guards patrolling the area, but thankfully the place was now bigger and had more room for them to walk more spread out.

"This is a waste of time. Why do we need to be careful walking through the sewer?" Knulgen said as he got a little ahead of them.

"Because if you take another step, you'll be blown out of the sewer." Z said as he walked to where Knulgen was standing and slowly leaned down.

"Knulgen, please don't move. There's a tripwire just inches from your leg." Leadonus said as he pointed to it. He looked down and saw a thin wire just below his knee while Z worked to disable the wire. The bomb was hidden beside a support beam against the wall.

Z slowly disabled the bomb and broke the wire. "The bombs off. And next time Knulgen I suggest you keep your eyes open for more." Z said to him in a serious tone.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied as they all continued their search.

Alpha was still in the lead until finally they found the floodgate control area. The whole floodgate control spanned over almost all of the underground part of the dam. The place was filled with grated walkways, control panels, and they could even see one of the floodgate doors from under them with a long pool of water that ran throughout the area. On the other side was drainage tubes that would flood water into the area and the floodgates would open out into the ocean where the emergency drainage tubes were just above the city's dam if there ever was a flood. And if the ocean water was too high, there was emergency pumps to drain the water into the ocean from another place.

"I see their plan now. The ocean water is above the drainage tubes this time of year. And when the floodgate doors are blown, the pumps wont be able to handle water that just keeps flooding in." Deotalus said to them as he looked down.

"There might be a bomb on the floodgate. One of us should dive into the water and find it." Miodelus said to them as he turned around after looking at the floodgate, only to find his brothers looking at him. "What?" Mio wondered.

"Mio, we're going to go in and find the bomb." Deotalus said as he and Leadonus walked the the edge of the walkway.

"We'll go in and find the bomb. You guys just wait here and we will be back in a few minutes." Leadonus smiled as the two dived in.

They both splashed into the salty water and swam to the floodgate door. The door was much bigger up close as the two searched it until they saw a faint glow on the door. Deotalus swam to it and saw a bundle of bombs in a rectangle shaped, watertight container with four suction-cups stuck to the floodgate door. Deotalus swam up to it and looked it over. The bomb had a military grade look to it, so that meant it was on a detonation control somewhere in the sewer. Deo gently grabbed the bomb and pulled it off as Lea cringed a little, but the bomb didn't go off.

The two swam back up to the surface where the others were waiting for them. "We found one of the bombs! We're coming up!" Leadonus called as the two swam to a ladder and climbed. The others stood back as Deo gently handed the bomb to Alpha.

Alpha grabbed the bomb and held it up. "Beginning analysis." He said as he scanned it for a moment.  
"The bomb is made of plastic explosives, and is in a watertight container with a waterproof detonation charge that will go off with a signal." Alpha said to them as he finished his analysis.

"If these guys want to flood the city, then why don't they just open the floodgates instead of blowing it?" William asked.

"The floodgates and pumps are controlled by terminals down here and in the hydroelectric parts of the dam above us. They could open and close the doors anytime they wish. If Calroc and his thugs blow the doors, the workers above us wont be alerted of the floodgates, and the pumps wont be able to handle the water flooding in by the time they notice somethings wrong." Deotalus explained to them.

"These bombs are all connected to a signal command. If we disable the trigger, the bombs will short out and fall off the doors and will simply rot away in the water." Alpha said as he raised his index finger to the detonation control and the tip opened up and a prong like device popped put and an electrical current shot out and burnt out the detonation relay.

"Then let's hurry and find it. We got to destroy the detonation trigger and find Calroc before he triggers the bombs." Leadonus said as Alpha threw the dead bomb over the rail and into the water and the gang walked on.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Aelita was kinda glad the others left her behind. She stood in the middle of the room and raised her hand up and held her arm back. "Energy Field!" She called out as she pumped her arm outward and her hand opened. Nothing happened. "Energy Field!" She called out again and still, nothing happened. "Energy Field!" She tried one more time, and still nothing.

She has been trying to fire her Energy Field for almost as long as the others have been gone. She sighed and sat back down on the couch with the pill bottle for her bones next to her on the table since she already took a dose. She laid back deep in it with her eyes closed. "I don't understand. Why can't I use the Energy Field now? It's my power, and I defeated Xana with it. Do I need to be close to death before I could use it?" Aelita said to herself out loud.

"You must not rush these kind of things Aelita. Let your power flow to you naturally." A voice said to her from behind.

Aelita almost jumped from her seat and almost fell to the ground. She turned around and noticed who the voice belonged to. The ethereal being known as Guardian Warrior, or GW by Odd, stood not too far from Aelita with a warm smile. "GW, it's nice to see you again." Aelita said with a smile as she walked over to him and gave him a light hug.

GW gently returned the hug with his left arm. "It's good to see you again too Aelita, and more importantly I am so proud on how you all defeated Xana together united." GW said with pride.

"Unfortunately it's short lived. The city's in danger again, and I can't even help them. I was able to use my Energy Field to defeat Xana, but now I can't do it again. What should I do?" Aelita asked him.

GW paced around for a few seconds before he spoke to her. "Your power manifested when you were in great danger, but now you must learn on your own how to use your special power, just as the others will develop their own powers. And as for Xana, he may return, but as long as you all stand together, Xana will meet his end." GW said in a kind and wise voice.

"What should I do until then? How can I learn to use my Energy Field and help the others?" Aelita asked him.

"You will find out in time. Until then, practice, meditate, focus on your ability's and you will find your power again." GW said as he sat down on the couch. "Now until your friends get back, let us talk about the things that have happened in the past few weeks until your friends get back from helping the city."

Aelita sat down across from him. "What makes you so sure they will win?" Aelita smiled to him.

"Oh I just have a feeling. After all, you all did defeat Xana, I can't think of any other reason why they wouldn't be victorious." GW smiled. The two laughed and Aelita began to tell him their experience of the past few weeks.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The gang got further down the floodgate control area until they came across a lift area. They got on the lift and reached a higher area that was a catacomb of tunnels and sewer lines and walked through the area to continue their search.

Suddenly the gang heard some chatter very far from them. Odd's ear flicked from the noise, and Z's highly tuned training picked up the noise and soon everyone heard the talking.

"You guys hear that?" Odd asked in a quiet tone.

"Yeah, let's check it out, but stay low, and stay quiet." Z said as he crouched down as he slung his assault rifle in hand.

The gang walked down the sewer line until they came to a small opening where part of a brick wall used to be with a light shining through. The gang approached it and peeked over to see a number of common thugs. At least almost a hundred of them in a large water drainage system with many grated walkways and concrete floors near the water, and all kinds of tubes above them. The area was filled with all kinds of wetsuits and scuba gear in one open crate and a bunch of wielding equipment and waterproof communication gear in another. And in the water was at least fifty black colored water jet-skies tied to a makeshift dock near a place that seemed like a water tunnel that may have lead to the surface.

The thugs paced around and got themselves ready and even had several groups going over maps of the city and marking where they were going to hit. The gang watched them as they quietly talked.

"This is far more organized then we thought. It must have taken them months to get all this gear and equipment." Yumi said in a very quiet tone.

"I don't get it. If their going to rob the banks in a flooded city, wont the money be ruined?" Miodelus asked.

"Most likely Mio, but banks also have gold and silver ingots that are worth a lot, and other items in safety deposits and even valuable coins." Deotalus explained.

"I don't see the detonation trigger anywhere. It might be in another location. We should..." Z paused as he noticed some bubbling near one of the docks. The others looked over and saw it too and even the thugs tensed up a little as the hulking being Calroc emerged and climbed up. "There he is, let's find out what he has planned." Said as they all listened in.

Calroc lumbered over to a nearby table where several of his men were going over the plans. His men quickly got out of the way as the seven foot tall, deformed lizardin stood next to a aquamarin that seemed to be in charge when Calroc wasn't around.

"Are we almost ready for the plan to commence?" Calroc asked in a growling voice that made some of the others shake.

"We're almost ready boss. We just need to make sure everyone is geared up. When we detonate the bombs, it will take a few hours for the city to flood and give the people time to clear out before we loot the city." He said to his boss.

"I don't care if the people make it out or not. All that matters is the many loots and jewels that we will take." Calroc growled as he looked at the map. "We need to act soon, I think our operation ha been discovered ever since those kids were down here."

"But boss, you flushed those little punks down the drain, we got nothing to worry about." A human man said, who happened to be the very same man Z interrogated before Calroc attacked them.

Before the man knew it, Calroc was right beside him and grabbed him by the back of his head and lifted him with ease and brought the man to his face as he struggled against the grip. "If you weren't so scared by a teenage punk, you would have realized that they weren't dressed normally. They looked like some kind of warriors." Calroc growled as he held him closer to his face.

"Even if they were some kind of warriors, they either drowned or got killed in the pipes. Their history now boss." The man defended as Calroc held his head tighter.

"That's still not an excuse to let our guard down! We need to begin our plan on flooding the city." Calroc shouted as he dropped the man from his grip. "I'll get the detonation trigger ready, and then bomb the floodgate doors in about an hour."

"Understood boss, we'll get our wetsuits on and get the scuba and load up the welding gear on the jet-skies." The aquamarin man said. The others began to scramble and pack up the place and prepare their scuba tanks except for the aquamarin thugs since their species could breath underwater.

Back with the gang from their hiding place. "We only got an hour or so before the city's flooded guys. We need to go on the offense soon." Ulrich said as they all nodded and walked away from the opening to look for a place to attack.

As the thugs got themselves prepared, Calroc stood by the table as they worked. Suddenly he began to sniff the air and looked to the opening that the gang was at only a moments ago on the other side of the large water treatment room. He made a light growl and scowled his scaly brow as a familiar scent came to him.

The gang moved through the old sewer to find a place to attack as Z quietly stopped the others and peeked over a corner and saw a single human man patrolling the area. Z gestured to Alpha to sneak up behind the man and grab him from behind as Alpha nodded in agreement and began to circle around through another path.

After a few moments, Z walked out and caught the mans attention by stepping in the middle of the path and gave a small mocking wave.

"What the hell? What the fuck are you-" The man began to shout before Alpha came up and grabbed him from behind hard and held him in his big left arm. "What the fuck is this?" The man said as Alpha put his right hand on top of the thugs head and held.

"One more word and he will twist your head off like a bottle-cap." Z threatened as Alpha gave the man a light squeeze and gently tapped his metal fingers against the mans forehead.

The others began to come around from their hiding place and gathered with Z to interrogate their new friend. "Alright pal, if you want to live, you better tell us what's the deal with this Calroc guy." Ulrich demanded.

Alpha gave the man a light squeeze again to show they were serious. "Well, some say he's a government experiment gone horribly wrong. Others say he's a freak of nature. And others say he messed with the wrong voodoo doctor in the bayou." The man answered as he went over the things he's heard.

"We want facts, not folktale's about this guy. Tell us why he's here." Jack warned as Alpha gave another light squeeze.

"Okay fine. He showed up about a few months ago all of a sudden. This place was kinda our hideout before Calroc took charge. He came to our boss about his plan and our old boss brushed him off, and before we even knew it, he viciously killed our old boss and threw him in the water. We decided it was best to follow Calroc, and with the amount of money we were going to get out it, we would be fools for not following him. So we spent the last few months gathering all the equipment we needed." The man explained.

"A little extreme, but this Calroc sure is effective with his work." Eli'ton said to them.

"Well brother, insane people can be clever. Calroc is a prime example." Bel'la said to him.

"We're done with him now Alpha, knock him out." Jeremie's voice said to him.

Alpha raised his hand over the mans head as he struggled against the robots grip. "Acknowledged." Alpha replied as he gave the man a hard tap that will have him out for hours and dropped him to the floor with a thud.

"At least we know a little more about the man, but that still doesn't stop his plans." Odd said to them.

"And we wont let you all stop the bosses plan! Now put your hands up now!" Some thugs called out to the gang.

They turned to see seven thugs pointing handguns at the gang. They slowly raised their hands as the thugs cocked their guns. Alpha could easily take the barrage of bullets and not even make a dent on his body, but the others would not be so lucky.

Z turned his head to Alpha and nodded as he gently made his left coat sleeve slide down his metal arm and began to walk in front of the others. "Stop right there boy. Are you trying to be a hero or something?!" One of the others shouted and popped a shot above Z's head into the brick tunnel that made some brick pieces crumble.

Z just gently smiled at them. "I'm not trying to be a hero, but I do have an ace up my sleeve, or should I say in my arm!" Z said as his left hand and top part of his forearm folded down to the middle of the underside of his arm and a gun barrel and trigger handle slide out and his hand automatically gripped the handle and trigger as Z opened fire on them with a volley of bullets in one wide sweep and killed them all.

The thugs were down and the others were really amazed of his new gun. "Wow Z, your arm gun gives you a huge surprise advantage in battle." Miodelus smiled as he came to look at the arm.

The barrel of the gun smoked a little as Z raised his arm to look. "It's very useful, but the kicks a little too strong. I'm going to have to make adjustments with it later." Z replied as he looked the new weapon over.

"All that gunshot must have alerted the others, we need to leave before they find us." Aracane said to them.

They all began to run down the sewer tunnels as they began to here chatter and yelling from the other thugs. They turned a corner and saw a few thugs looking around as Z fired on them before they got the drop on the gang with the final rounds in his arm gun. They ran further while Z loaded a new clip through the elbow joint of his arm as they ran into a tunnel with a grated floor with a long pool of water under them and ran down the walkway.

As they ran, a sudden bubbling caught their attention as a scaly being burst out of the water and landed on the walkway with a growl. "I should have made sure you all were dead before I flushed you down the drain." He said to them with a slight roar.

"Nice to see you again Calroc. Too bad for you we need to put an end to your mad plan." Z said as his arm gun folded back to normal and pulled out his four barrel shotgun and aimed it at him while Alpha did the same with his laser guns in his arms.

Calroc gave a raspy laugh to them. "If you kill me now, you'll never find the detonator before the timer is up." He smiled to them.

"How do you know we're here to stop you? What if we're here for simple revenge?" Sam said to him as she took out her bladed tonfas.

"I may look like a beast, but I'm no fool. I can tell your all here to stop me, I smelled your scent's from that broken wall while my men began the final phase of my plan. So if you want to stop the detonator, you better keep me alive." Calroc threatened them.

Z and Alpha lowered their weapons as the others took out their weapons. "Well shooting you won't make you talk, so how 'bout we cut you up a little until you feel like letting us know where the bomb trigger is." Knulgen warned as he raised his sword.

"Why don't you tell that to them." Calroc said as he pointed to the other side of the room. The gang turned and saw a number of thugs come running in. They held pipes, chains, bricks, and chains while even a few of them had handguns. "You all can deal with them while I get ready for a big payday. And when they bring your dead bodies to me, I'll skin you all and make your bones into a throne to sit on." Calroc growled as he dived back into the water and left the gang with the many thugs ready to fight.

"We need to stop him now guys before it's too late." William said as he raised his butcher sword.

"We kinda got more important things to deal with right now William." Yumi reminded him as she drew her weapons.

"I got this," Knulgen smiled as he drew his sword and attacked the thugs. The two thugs took a swing at him with pipes, but Knulgen cut through with ease and took down the two in the process as one thug with a brick tried to hit him in the back of the head as he ducked just in time and sliced the man down.

One thug tired to take on Aracane, but the muscle bound ax warrior hacked him down with one clean swing. Z raised his four barrel shotgun and unloaded a four shot blast right at a small group of thugs with a mighty bang. Alpha raised his laser guns and fired away in wide sweeps at the thugs, even though he was still wearing his disguise.

The thugs were shaken up from their loses, but they were still determined to fight the gang of teens because they knew just how vicious and brutal Calroc could be when they go against his orders, and a dozen or so of former thugs lying at the bottom of a sewer pipe was the motivation they needed to keep fighting.

"This fight is a distraction, we need to get these people out of our way." Jack said to his friends as he blocked a pipe swing and took the thug down with his sword, the Excalion.

"Do you have any suggestions Jack?" Ulrich asked as he dodged a chain swinging at him.

"Actually I do." Jack answered as he jumped back and raised his hands near the water under them. The water began to churn and rise, and as the water flew up into the air, it caught the other thugs attention as they gasped and freaked out before the wall of water came down on them like a tide and flushed them over the walkway and into the water.

"Alright Jack, we're clear to move on." Deotalus said as they ran down the walkway.

"I am now tracking the detonation signal, follow my lead." Alpha said to them as the others got right behind the disguised robot and ran down the many sewer tunnels and hopefully make it in time before Calroc bombs the floodgate doors.

Z took out his assault rifle and held it up ready to fire. Two thugs leaped out from a corner, but Z was quick to act and put them down in just a few small bursts. Further down the tunnel another thug popped out, but Kairaree quickly leaped and sliced the man across the throat and took him down before he could even attack. Two thugs jumped down from a opening in the roof with guns as Ralfaius threw both his sais at the thugs hands and pierced their hands and they let go screaming in pain as Ral then took out his butterfly short-sword like weapons and took the two down in a few swings and retrieved his sais in the process.

The thugs numbers were thinning out, and the gang was not even breaking a sweat. It was pretty obvious that common street thugs are no match for any of the gang and their level of fighting skills.

Further down the sewer tunnels, Alpha alerted them on the distance of the detonation signal. "The signal is getting stronger, we are almost in range of the main bomb." Alpha said to them as they turned another corner.

"Thank goodness, I don't know how much more of being in this sewer I can take." Yumi said as they reached the end, only to stop in their tracks.

The gang reached another water treatment area that was also a main power junction for the floodgate controls. In front of the door was the rest of the thugs that were in the sewers. Since there was over a hundred of them, the gang managed to cut their forces down by three fourths and they looked pretty nervous to fight the young warriors.

The gang stood there ready to fight in case it was a trap. Ulrich slowly walked in front of his friends. "You all have a choice." He called to the thugs. "Either run away, or stay here and get killed by us."

A few of them sneered at the gang and began to walk forward as Z raised his assault rifle and fired a few rounds above the large group of thugs. They cried out in a panic from the bullets hitting against the pipes and wires above them as a warning shot.

"Leave... now!" Odd warned as he drew his bow.

The thugs dropped their weapons and ran off to the right where a tunnel opening was. Calroc will soon learn that his plan has gone down the drain as the remaining thugs at his call were leaving their boss and he would soon be at the gangs mercy, but they still remembered that the deformed Calroc was a very strong opponent.

"Those thugs are heading to the surface. That tunnel leads straight up, but it will take them quite a few minutes. I looked it up on the schematics and blueprints of this area." Alpha said to them as he went over their location from his point of view.

"I need to alert Markus and tell him where the thugs are heading. If we're lucky, he can get the police squad there in time to arrest them." Z said as he pulled out his communicator from his coat pocket.

"They should emerge from tunnel access number 42, it's been abandon for quite some time." Alpha said as he looked up the location.

"That probably how they moved so much equipment into the sewers without drawing any attention." Deotalus said to them.

Z turned on the communicator and spoke into it. "Markus, we're almost done with this mission. We drove off a large group of criminals helping in the operation of flooding the city, they should be exiting from tunnel access 42, so make sure you get as many of the police force there to arrest them. I just hope you get my call." Z said as he put the communicator back in his coat.

"Guys I'm worried, what if Calroc detonates the bombs as we enter? What if he's waiting inside right now?" Miodelus said to them as they reached the sliding metal doors.

"Mio actually has a point. You all distract him, and keep him talking while Alpha taps into the detonators signal and shorts it out." Jeremie's voice said to them.

"Let's just hope we get there before he does." Ulrich said as he pressed the button on the console next to the door and opened it.

The gang walked into the room slowly. The room was large and completely round with a walkway all around the room with pool of water a few feet under them. Right across from them was a walkway that lead straight into the middle of the pool where a large control console was with many pipes and tubes going up to the roof of the water treatment area. They looked to the console and saw a strange black box with a few red blinking lights and what looked like a bomb too.

"That's the main control box for the bombs! We need to get to it before Calroc get here." Deotalus said as he pointed to the controls.

A few of them began to move down the narrow walkway to the control console to disable the main bomb. Suddenly the water next to the round area where the console was bubbled and Calroc leaped out and climbed over the rail and quickly walked up to the bomb control.

"Any of you take another step and I'll detonate the bombs. This is the main control room to the floodgates, and if this room goes, they will never be able to fix this room when it floods the city." He warned with a deep growl.

The gang stopped in their tracks while Z turned to Alpha and nodded. The robot understood his gesture and began to send out a signal to the detonation signal. As Alpha tapped into the signal, the gang knew they needed to buy some time.

"Why are you doing this to the city?" Z said to begin the distraction. "What possible reason could you have for destroying a city and getting people killed just to steal millions of dollars in loot?" Z demanded.

Calroc began to chuckle at his question. "Why am I doing this? I'm doing it just for the hell of it. That money will be very useful to me in the future. You all scared off my men, but then again I must thank you all for that. I may not get the amount of loot that was planned, but it saves me time with having to kill them all when I'm done with them." Calroc chuckled.

Kairaree stepped up beside Z to ask her question. "What could you possibly have planned that involves taking a lot of money, wreaking a city, and ruining peoples lives?" She demanded him to tell.

"You all wont live to find out. When this bomb goes off with the other bombs, I'll swim away and leave you all here to drown once this place starts filling up water." Calroc said with a smile.

"I'm afraid that will no longer be possible." Alpha said through his metal mask. "The signal has been hacked into and shorted out."

Calroc's eyes went wide as he turned to the bomb just in time as the detonator crackled and sizzled as the bomb trigger shorted out and made the bomb unusable.

"How did...? How could you have...? That's not possible!" He roared at them as the young warriors had a smug and victorious smile on their faces. "That does it! I'm going to kill you all and eat your flesh!" Calroc yelled as he began to charge down the walkway towards them.

"Not today pal." Jack said as he raised his arms over the rails and made the water fly up into the air and wash over the surprised Calroc and push him into the water below. He splashed into the water and surfaced a moment later while thrashing and roaring at the gang.

"You all just made a big mistake with messing in my plans! I will kill you all!" He yelled to them.

Z quickly ran to the control console and grabbed the bomb and threw it over the rails and into the water and then began to type away on the console. "Your going to have a hard time killing us while getting flushed." Z said to him. "And we're still a little shook up by being flushed down the drain, so let's call this getting even." He smiled as he pressed a button.

The big pool of water began to slowly swirl as Calroc knew what has happened and tried to swim against the current, but the force of the water got too strong and he began to become sucked down the drain.

"You miserable punks, I'm not done with you! I will find you all! And when I do, I'll tear you limb from limb and rip out your guts and peel your skin!" Calroc yelled to him as he finally got sucked down and the drain closed up and the room began to fill up with new water.

The gang cheered at their victory and fallen enemy, and more importantly, a city safe and cleared from danger of being flooded.

"We did it guys." Yumi cheered.

"Victory party in the safe house guys!" Odd yelled with joy.

"Yeah, that sounds like an awesome idea Odd." Sam smiled to him.

"Hell yeah, let's crash that fucking place as we celebrate." Knulgen shouted.

"We are not going to do that you ass! Just a small celebration is all we're going to do." Leadonus warned him.

"Our missions done guys, let's head back to the surface. We did a good thing for this city again guys." Z praised them as they all headed out and began their way back topside.

()()()()()()()()

Calroc's former thugs ran up a long wide stairway that was a former service access into the sewers. Most of the men were laughing as they walked out into a lone street from the service opening near a vacant lot that used to be a building where an industrial plant used to be.

As all of the men were out and further in the street, a number of bright spotlights turned on and blinded them. "Freeze! Put your hands up now, and get down on your knees!" A police chief yelled as he pointed his gun at them as a number of other officers did from behind their cop cars and vans. There was easily over a few dozen police cars set up ready and waiting for the thugs as a special tactic squad burst from a squad like van and pointed their assault rifles at them, and even a police copter hovered over them.

The thugs got to their knees in defeat and groaned as the many cops began to cuff them and take them to the cop cars and vans meant to carry a dozen or so criminals.

Across the street in a dark alley, Markus stood there with his sunglasses on as the police arrested the thugs and loaded them up into the cop vehicles. With his part done, Markus slowly backed into the alley and into the dark without a trace.

()()()()()()()()()()

It took the gang an hour before they found another sewer access tunnel and walked out back into the open street not to far from the airport as the noon sun began to go down. It was nice to be out of the sewer again, but once they hit fresh air, they realized they needed to shower again! But it was a small annoyance compared to the irreversible damage that would have fallen on the city if not for them. Alpha moved the front part of his robe like disguise so the chest plates could have an opening and materialized Jeremie back.

"Once again guys we did it. Another enemy has fallen, and we saved a lot of lives. I suppose I'll get the party started while you all clean up after running around in the sewers again." Jeremie said to them.

"You may want to hose Alpha off before you do that." Bel'la said to him. "He's been down there long enough to stink too." They all began to laugh as Alpha tilted in confusion.

"What is so humorous about cleaning me off? My smell from the sewer could become problematic and give away our positions or the element of surprise in future fights." Alpha said to them still confused.

"Aw don't worry about it big red, we'll get you cleaned up." Eli'ton said to him as he patted Alpha on the back as he still wore his mask and cloak disguise.

They all began to head back to the safe house after another day of fighting, and to have a nice, well earned party for themselves.

()()()()()()()()()()()

Far from the Seadrift City dam was a lone buoy floating in the water with a small bell ringing at the tip. A seagull flew down on it and squawked loudly. A large figure burst out of the water and grabbed the buoy as the seagull flew off in fear squawking.

Calroc held onto the buoy as he looked to the city that looked small in the distance. He growled very angrily, for months of planning was gone in only a few hours. He now had a hated grudge against the strange group of teenagers, and planned to get back at them.

"I have your scents you little punks... and when I find you all, I will rip you all to pieces." He said as he growled in pure hate for the gang.

Without another word, he dived back underwater and began to swim away from the city to who knows where he would go. The gang has made a new enemy, and in time they will fight him again, and deal with his hate filled primal wrath.

**END CHAPTER.**


	34. ANOTHER PATH TO TRAVEL

**CHAPTER 34: ANOTHER PATH TO TRAVEL**

The gang quickly made their way back to the safe house and entered the building to see Aelita talking and laughing with Guardian Warrior, or better known as GW. They all got in, happy to see they're ethereal friend.

"Hey GW, when did you get here?" Odd called out to him.

"Ah, hello there young warriors, I am glad to see you all again." GW smiled to them as he got up to greet them. "Aelita and me were just talking about the events that have happened to you all in the last few weeks."

"Did she tell you how I kicked Xana's ass all over the place?" Knulgen asks smugly.

Aracane approached him from behind and gave Knulgen a hard shove. "You didn't kill Xana alone." Aracane said to him as Knulgen turned around angrily. "We all managed to inflict damage on him, but when Xana connected to his new body, it was Aelita that defeated him."

"We may have defeated Xana, but he's still alive." Yumi reminded them. "And he's out there somewhere, and we have no way of finding him."

"She's got a point." Ulrich said as he walked up beside her. "Xana could come back anytime now, and we wont know how to find him." Ulrich added.

GW stood there for a moment and thought over what they said until he spoke. "I always knew that Xana would not be finished after you all defeated him. Xana will return indeed, but he will not be so eager to attack you all head on."

"Really?" Leadonus asked. "I would be wanting to get revenge if I was him. Xana is definitely not the kind of guy to take defeat so casually."

"It is true, Xana does not take defeat well, he will want revenge. Xana is cold and calculating, and will want to try to make an example out of you all." GW said as he gently paced around while talking in a wise tone. "But he will not foolishly charge into fight you all. You have defeated him in the past, but now that you have inflicted harm directly on him, he will think his plans through. He wont admit it, but you all have sent a mortal pain to the being that fancies himself as a god."

"So what your saying is we got Xana running scared? That's freaking awesome." William boasted.

"Hmm, well, it's not that you have him running scared, but Xana will be more cautious when fighting you all again." GW said as he sat back down on the couch.

"What should we do until then? Wait for him to attack another city, or come looking for us again?" Sam asked.

"You still have many things to do. So I suggest when your all done here in this city, it would probably be wise to travel out and explore the lands." GW suggested to them.

"Alright! Road trip guys!" Odd cheered.

"Yeah, road trip!" Miodelus added.

Kairaree laughed at they're excitement. "Hold on you two, we still got to clean ourselves off, then have a celebration on saving the city from disaster." She said to the two bouncing boys.

"Hey GW," Jeremie called to him. "Why don't you stay for the party. It would be nice to have you around."

GW smiled at his request. "I thank you for the offer, but I have to decline. There are things I need to attend to right now, but if you have more parties in the future, I would be more then happy to try and stop by if I could." He said as he got from the couch. "But by all means, enjoy your victory party, you all earned it. I will be going now."

"Take care GW, we'll see you later." Jack said while waving to him.

GW nodded to them as he walked away, and in a flash of light he was gone from their sights. GW's departure was considerably good timing, because Markus walked into the safe house only moments later.

"You guys did it!" He said with a smile as he closed the door. "You all stopped Calroc before he blew up the floodgates and destroyed the city. So where is that bastard? Did you all kill him?" He asked.

Z walked up to tell Markus what happened. "We managed to track down his hideout and eventually disarm the bombs before they blew. We then fought him and knocked him into a drainage pool and flushed him down. He may be dead, but I doubt it. We'll just have to wait and see if he emerges again." Z explained to his former master.

"He may have limped away, but the most important thing is you stopped him from destroying the city. That's far more then anyone could do, even for adults." Markus said as he praised the gang.

As they talked, Jeremie went to the kitchen area with Aelita as he told her about the little party. "We'll worry about Calroc later guys. You all just get cleaned up again and we will start fixing food for the party." Jeremie said to them.

"Yes, please do. This is twice in one day you all smell like you took a dip in the sewers." Aelita giggled as the others nodded and went to shower up.

After awhile the gang was cleaned off along with Alpha hosing himself down outside, the gang was ready for their celebration. They all pitched in with making the dishes and getting drinks from the fridge, and even Knulgen sneaked a few of the beers and drank them quick. After awhile the gang settled down and sat at tables and couches eating. Despite the place being a safe house, it was well stocked with surprisingly good food. After awhile, the earth members of the gang told their new friends more about earth, and Markus and Z told the gang a little more about their missions.

Kairaree wanted to ask when and how Z lost his arm and leg, but she would ask him in time when it was appropriate. The night finally came in as the gang began to clean up. Knulgen and Aracane almost got in a fist fight when they argued about who should help do the dishes.

Finally after the gang was done cleaning up and putting away the dishes, and some of the pans, the gang settled in for the night. The day had been long and difficult for them. They fought Xana only a little pasted midnight, then fought him in his new body, then flew to the city with only a few hours of rest. Then found out about a so called sewer monster, only to find out that it was a deformed lizardin named Calroc, and barely prevented him from flooding the city to rob it of it's money and jewelry.

Tomorrow the gang will start out on a new path and look for any possible leads on Xana. But first the gang had a earned a long goodnights rest.

DAY 21

The morning came, and the gang was quick to wake up and get started. They all made themselves breakfast of eggs, cereal, bacon, and toast, and even Miodelus managed to make waffles. Markus was away, and didn't even leave a note for them, but they knew he probably had something important to do.

As the gang ate their breakfast, Z got up from his seat to speak to them. "Alright guys, now that we got this city hopefully

secured, where do you all think we should head to?" He asked them.

"I could give a shit less." Knulgen said as he poked the food around on his plate.

"Well no one would ask you anyway." Aracane replied to his comment.

"Either way, Z's got a point. Where do you all think we should head to now?" Yumi asked the gang.

The door to the safe house suddenly opened and Markus walked into the room. "Morning there young warriors, how you doing?" Z's former master asked them.

"Well we're doing okay for now, but we can't think of where we should go." Ulrich said to him. "If we had even a slight lead, it would really help us out."

Markus thought to himself for a moment before speaking to them. "You know, I might actually have somewhere you all can go." He said to them.

Jeremie slightly shifted in his chair before he spoke. "Really? Where would that be?" He asked.

"There's a small war going on in a land far from here. It's been going on for a few years now, but it's only just became known to the world." Markus explained to them.

"So what does that have to do with us? And how are we even going to get there?" Eli'ton asked.

"Intel shows that the rebel force has been getting help from an unknown source for quite some time. They say the people who are helping them wear unmarked black armor, just like some of the troops you foug ht on Xana's floating fortress." Markus explained to them.

Odd put his fingers to his chin and thinking out loud. "Strange, why would Xana help some ragtag rebel forces in some far off war?" He wondered.

"Whatever the reason is, it can't be good. We should head there, but how will we even get there?" Leadonus asked him.

"Finish up your breakfast and I will show you all how." Markus said to them with a smile.

The gang quickly finished up and got ready to leave. They gathered their backpacks that some of them carried and Markus then lead them out of the private airport. The black plane that brought them here had long been gone and off to whatever cargo

delivery they needed to do. Alpha put on his mask cloak and the whole gang began to follow Markus. They walked down a sidewalk near the private airport.

After an hour of walking, the gang and Markus saw a small train yard come into view. They walked in completely unhindered by the small amount of workers as Markus took them around a corner and showed them to a train on a track, ready to go.

"Warriors, here is your ride." Markus said to them as he showed them the train. The gangs train was black and looked like a cross between an old fashion and modern train with eight ordinary boxcars connected to the train.

"Alright, we get to ride a train again. And we don't have to pay either." Odd cheered to them.

"So where just going to ride this to the location? What's even in this train to begin with? There's too many boxcars." Yumi asked as she walked up to the train.

Markus showed them the way inside as they all climbed in the back. The first two boxcars were like cargo carriers with sliding doors, but didn't have anything in the except for some random junk and tools. The next four were like any ordinary passenger boxcars. The last two boxcars that Markus showed them was the most important part of the train. The last two boxcars connected to the train engine were filled with many crates meant to be delivered to where the gang was going.

Z walked up to one of the crates and opened it to see many medical supplies and rations. "Is this what we're delivering to that land? Who do we even give this stuff too?" He asked him.

"The crates are filled with medicine and rations for the troops in the land. The place that their defending is a massive open land called Grayvon Valley. The troops that are fighting against the rebel forces is called The Grand Militant. A military for hire that we Zarcanions have a mutual grounds with." Markus explained to them.

"So why are we delivering this cargo to them? And where are we suppose to meet them?" Deotalus asked.

"The train has a G.P.S. on it, and the route is already programmed into it. The grand Militant troops, or T.G.M. troops will meet you all at the station where they will be waiting. The cargo is very important, and needs to get there." Markus said as he looked over the cargo one more time.

"I suppose our route is secret, and that is why you have us riding a train like this to get there, right?" Jack asked.

"Yes. Your route should be secret. It's mostly open fields and mountain ranges, cliff areas and some farm lands here and there. So it should be a smooth ride." Markus answered.

"Wait a minute," William suddenly said. "Weren't we suppose to cash in on that photo of Calroc to get the cash reward?"

"No..." Z said to him. "We can't cash in on the photo. The people of Seadrift City don't need to know about him. It's already been in enough trouble, and the last thing they need to know is that they're city was almost flooded." Z explained as he pulled out his communicator and deleted the photo of Calroc.

"Looks like the 'mystery of the sewer monster' will just become another urban legend like any other." Sam chuckled.

"Probably for the best. We need to keep a low profile anyway, so Xana doesn't find us before we find him." Ralfaius said as he leaned against a crate.

"Indeed it is." Markus agreed. "I put some guns for you in the train, Z. The guns are in the trains engine room in crates, and there's some food and water bottles in a few coolers in the passenger boxcars if you guys get hungry and thirsty." Markus said as he pointed in the direction of the things.

"How do you even get these things put together so fast? It's almost like you planned for this to happen." Eli'ton asked Markus.

"There's no plan in things like this. We're just really good at working with what we got." Markus answered him. "Now you all must get going, time is of the essence."

"You heard him guys, let's move out. I've always wanted to ride a train anyway." Bel'la said with a smile.

Everyone began to settle in on the train. Z and Alpha went to the engine room to start the train up. True to his word, there was four long crates in the corners of the train. The others just sat in the passenger carts and looked out the windows. As the train got ready to go, Markus stood in the engine room with Z and Alpha as he reached for something in his coat pocket.

"Before I go Z, I want to give you something." Marrkus said to him as he pulled out a new gun. It was a magnum revolver with a silver color and long barrel with a round cylinder where the bullets go.

Z turned and grabbed the revolver and spun it around in his finger before putting it in a holster under his left arm. "Thanks Markus, this will really do some damage." Z said to him with a smile.

"I suppose you have another mission to deal with after we leave. That is why your not coming with us, correct?" Alpha asked Markus.

"Yeah, I got a new mission from headquarters. I'll fly off to it after you all leave this train sation. So take care all of you." Markus said as he left the engine room. He then said his good-byes to the others and got off the train and stood on the tram station as the train began to move.

The wheels of the train began to pump, the two stacks blew steam as the train rolled down the tracks. Markus waved to them as some looked out the window to wave back. A blanket of steam blew over him and covered him. A few moments after the steam dissipated, Markus was gone from view, as if he seemed to fade away. But in truth, he just went away very fast. The gang had left Markus yet again, but they knew they would see him again in time as they rode off to a new land.

A few hours passed as the train rode down the tracks. The gang paced around in the train, talked, even played I spy and guessing games as they looked out the windows to take in the view.

"Okay bros, I spy with my eye, something green." Miodelus said to them as he asked another question, which they have been playing for a few hours.

"Hmm... is it the grasslands?" Leadonus asked as he leaned back in his seat, even though he knew the answer.

"Yes it is!" Mio said to him. "Okay, I spy with my eye, something green." He asked again.

"Is it the grasslands again?" Deotalus asked, knowing the answer too.

"You guys are good! How do you know the answers all the time?!" Miodelus asked, not getting the fact that his questions are not at all challenging.

"You know what bro?" Ralfaius said. "Let's just sit here and be quiet."

"Man I wish there was something to watch on this train." Odd said, in an almost whining tone. "With all their resources, they could have put a tv or something in.

"It's all right Odd, We'll be there soon. Just sit back and relax." Said Sam to calm him down.

In the train engine room. Z, Ulrich, Alpha, Jeremie, and Aelita were hanging around as Z looked over the trains navigation on the terminal near that controls the trains speed and direction.

"We still got a lot of hours to go guys. It would probably be near the end of the day before we reach our destination." Z said to them as he looked over navigation system and followed the indicator mark that was their train going down the tracks.

"I better tell the others before they get restless, especially Odd." Ulrich said as he chuckled at the last part and left the room.

Aelita turned to Jeremie as he looked over the train engines power source near the control terminal. "What you looking at Jeremie? Isn't that the trains power engine?" She asked.

"Yeah it is. I just wanted to see the trains power engine." Jeremie answered her as he looked away for a moment. "It's really amazing. It's electric, and it conducts electricity through the tracks and powers the train. This planet is full of amazing things to see and do, and we've only been on this planet for over twenty days." Jeremie said as he went back to looking over the train engine.

"This world has made some major advances in the past few decades." Alpha said. "If this technological advancement keeps at this pace, then deeper space travel might become a possibility in the next few decades."

"That would be pretty amazing to see since we're still so young, we might just see it happen." Z said as he still kept his eyes on the terminal.

Ulrich walked back into the passenger cart where the others were. Aracane and Knulgen were sleeping in their seats. The twins were talking in their native language, and the others were just hanging around. Ulrich looked over and saw Yumi sitting alone in a seat in the far corner. He walked over to her as she looked out the window.

"Hey Yumi, is this seat taken?" Ulrich asked her.

Yumi looked to him for a moment. "No, go ahead and have a seat." She gestured.

Ulrich sat down across from her and looked back out the window. "Well Z said that we still have a ways to go before we reach the station. So we should just relax and wait."

Yumi slightly shifted in her seat. "Sounds like a plan to me. It's not like we got much to do anyway." She said as she still looked out the window.

"It sure is a nice view out. It's kinda cool to have our own train to ride around in, and I can't wait to see that new land." Ulrich said to her.

"Only to go to another battle. That seems to be all we have in our life now." Yumi replied with a little sadness in her tone.

"I know our life has gotten really hectic in the last few weeks. But we all still got each other, and that's all we need to get through this." Ulrich said to her.

Yumi gave him a warm smile in return to his kindness. "Thanks Ulrich, your right. As long as we stay together, we'll beat Xana and anything he throws at us." She said with confidence.

Ulrich took a deep breath and leaned back in his seat. Hey Yumi," Ulrich said to catch her attention.

Yumi looked back over to him again. "Yes Ulrich."

"Listen, there's something I've been wanting to tell since before we left earth." Ulrich began as he shifted forward in his seat. "You see, I've been wanting to say-"

_Shatter!_

The glass window between the two was shattered into many pieces as the two ducked down as the glass shards hit the floor and the wind whipped into the boxcar.

"What the hell was that?!" William shouted as the others instantly noticed what happened.

Ulrich and Yumi got up from their seats and looked out the window to see nothing but the passing lands.

"Yumi, are you all right?" Ulrich asked as he patted some of the glass shards off his back and shoulders.

"I'm fine." She replied. "But what was that? What shattered the glass?" She wondered as the two looked out the window.

"What's going on in there? Who broke a window?" Z said, his voice coming in through the intercom above the passenger door.

Everyone was looking out the windows to see what was out there, but they couldn't see anything. Suddenly they heard the sound of an engine roaring and saw a dune buggy like vehicle with a roll cage in the back speeding towards them. The dune buggy had six men riding in it. One driving, one in the passenger seat, and four in the back. They were hooting and hollering while the buggy speed towards the gangs train.

They wore strange random parts of armor and clothing, and they all had some form of facial cover like helmets and goggles, and even the driver had a bandana over his mouth to go with the goggles. The buggy got close to the train as the men continued to holler at them, one of the raiders in the back picked up a hunting rifle with scope and aimed at the gang.

The gang in the boxcar ducked down as the raider fired away. Several of the windows were shot out as they covered themselves from the flying glass.

"Z! We're under attack. There's some kind of raiders outside shooting at us." Kairaree called to the intercom over the door.

Back in the train engine, Z was locking the trains speed in and went to the metal crates holding the guns. He opened one case and found a long-range assault rifle with ammo that goes into the back of the gun.

"Jeremie, Aelita. Stay in here. I'm going to the boxcars and help the others." Z said to them as he loaded up on a few clips. "Alpha, are you coming?"

"Affirmative." Alpha replied as he took off his mask cloak and followed Z as Jeremie and Aelita agreed to stay in the train engine room.

The two made it to the others boxcar to hear the sound of gunfire and crazy yelling as the gang stayed down. They hid in the doors big threshold. Z ducked down and crawled to where the others were as more shots were being fired overhead. He crawled to them with his gun ready.

"Z, I thought you said this route was a secret? Why are these bastards here after us?" Knulgen shouted over the gunshots.

"Leave him alone Knulgen." Aracane warned him. "It's not Z's fault. Someone must have tipped whoever these people are off. So just shut it."

"Who could these people possibly be? Do you think they could be the rebels Markus was talking about?" Kairaree asked him.

"It's a possibility it could be the rebels." Z answered as he peeked over a window to look for a moment before ducking back down. "I don't know how they found us, but I know how their going to leave." Z said as he took a deep breath.

Z went into a meditative state as he listened to the sounds of gunfire and engine roar. He waited for the shooter to run out of ammo and reload. As the man reloaded, Z sprang up from his position and thanks to his years of training, he spotted the driver and pulled the trigger of his rifle and sent a burst of bullets flying. The bullets flew through the air and hit their mark which was the driver. Two of the bullets hit the man in the head and the last three struck the passenger as the buggy swerved out of control and flipped due to the high speed they were going. The men flew out of the buggy and were fatally injured, or killed on impact and the buggy exploded in a fiery blast as pieces flew through the air.

The gang cheered for Z as kairaree quickly hugged him, which made him slightly blushed.

"You did it Z! You took those men out with only a few rounds." kairaree praised him.

"It was nothing. It was simply a matter of waiting for an opening and taking action." Z replied so he could make his blushing go away.

As the gang cheered, Miodelus looked out the window to see a troubling sight. "Uhhh, guys, we got a problem." He called to them.

The others looked out the windows to see what Mio was pointing to. The sound of many engines roaring was heard as they looked to see several buggies of different kinds racing towards the train. Most of them were like the one that was casing them a few minutes ago while the others looked more advanced. A few had six wheels and a longer bed for more men to carry, and while another was bigger then the rest, and had a cowcatcher welded to the front of it. That one seemed to be the lead buggy since it was bigger then the rest.

The strange raiders in the buggies surrounded the train from behind as they got closer to the train. They carried all kinds of makeshift weapons, like buzz-saws on a pipe, chains with spike balls, and various other weapons made from tools. The strange buggies got closer as the raiders got more wild and ready to attack.

"Guys spread out into the other carts." Z ordered them. "We can't let them take the train and it's supplies. Protect at all cost!"

"I'm not laying down my life for a bunch of crates." Knulgen said as he crossed his arms.

"What's the matter Knulgen? Afraid to fight them off on a train?" Aracane challenged him, knowing how to get him fighting.

"Screw you! I'll kill all those bitches by myself." Knulgen replied as he drew his sword. Once again he fell for Aracane's trick.

"Looks like we got many more to deal with Yumi." Ulrich said to her as he drew his sabers.

"We always do Ulrich. We always do." Yumi replied as she drew her short-sword and fan-blade.

The gang began to spread out into the other boxcars as the dune buggies got closer. Aracane, Knulgen, and Jack went to the back cart. The four Surfane brothers went to the seventh cargo cart. The twins went to the first passenger cart connected to the cargo carts. Z and Kairaree went to the next passenger cart. Ulrich and Yumi went to the third cart. William, Sam, Alpha, and Odd stayed in the last passenger cart connected to the carts that held the important cargo they needed to deliver.

The battle was on as the many buggies got close to the train. A buggy at the very back got close enough for a raider to jump on. His whole face was covered, but he was most likely a molknuc. The raider opened the back door and walked in the cargo tram.

"Welcome aboard." Aracane said to the raider, catching his attention. "Let me punch your ticket!" He shouted as he punched the man right in his masked face. The force of Aracane's fist sent the man staggering back and over the rail and off the train and rolling down the tracks.

His victory was short lived as more raiders hopped on and even opened the side doors by shooting off the locks with shotguns.

"Alright!" Knulgen said with a wide grin. The raiders hopped in the cargo cart as the three went to battle. "Time to kick some ass guys."

"Stay focused Knulgen. These people mean business." Jack reminded him as he held his sword, the Excalion high, ready to battle.

The three made quick work of the raiders as they fell to the three warriors weapons. Aracane sliced down a raider with his ax before grabbing another one and slamming him into the cargo wall. Knulgen was going at his wild pace as he cut down the raiders that boarded. Jack kicked a raider out of the cart just as he jumped on. But the best part of it was that the raider fell and landed on the driver of the buggy that the raider jumped from and caused it to swerve out of control and crashed into another buggy and sent the two buggies crashing into a burst of flames.

The raiders on the cart were gone or dead and the three won the fight. But from the end of the cart they saw the large buggy with the cowcatcher was on the tracks and gaining speed. The buggy slammed into the back hard and made the three hit the floor. The buggy charged again as it's engine roared and burst with it's powerful fuel burning out of the tall stacks before hitting the back of the train again.

As the buggy rammed the train, the others felt the shake as Leadonus walked in to see what was causing the shaking.

"What's going on? Why is the train shaking?" Leadonus asked as he clutched his scythes handle.

"These guys are ramming into the back of the train. But we don't know why." Jack said to him as he held on a rail as another ram was felt.

Suddenly a screeching sound was heard and they now knew what was happening. The buggy damaged the carts wheels and caused the boxcar to loose traction on the tracks and causing it to shake.

"Everybody out of this boxcar now!" Aracane shouted as they got up and ran while trying to keep their balance.

They ran out of the cargo cart and jumped into the next through the opening. Leadonus looked down to the connection locks and noticed they needed to be disengaged.

"Guys, help me unlock this cargo cart before it drags us down!" Leadonus called to them as he went to the locking wheel on the side of the other boxcar and began to spin it. The locks got looser, but the cargo cart was shaking and the wheels were sparking on the tracks. Finally the locks were undone, but the chains and cables kept it still attached. Aracane and Knulgen quickly lopped at the chains and finally unhooked and cut off the cargo cart and sent it rolling and crashing off the tracks. They were now down seven carts.

They all headed back into the second cargo cart to find the other three Surfane brothers fighting off raiders. One raider took a stab at Ralfaius, but was quickly countered with his sais and made a deadly stab. Another raider with a club attacked Deotalus, but the smart brother quickly countered with the end of his trident before flipping it up and stabbing the raider in the chest with the head. Miodelus twirled his three-section-staff with the hidden blades pointing out the ends. Two raiders attacked him with axes. One raider with a mohawk built into the helmet was struck across the face while Mio grabbed the other end of his weapon and stabbed the other raider with a bandana over his face in the chest and ended him quick.

The three finished off the raiders quick as the other four from the last boxcar joined up with them.

"Great job bros. You finished those guys off nice and quick." Leadonus said to them as his brothers kicked the dead raiders out of the cargo cart.

"I think our victory is short lived!" Deotalus said as he pointed out the cargo door.

The others looked to see a buggy speeding towards them with a man in the back holding a rocket launcher!

"Is that a rocket launcher?" Miodelus asked. "Guys! They got a rocket launcher guys, and their going to fire!"

"Really Mio? Their really going to fire a rocket launcher at us?" Ralfaius asked with a heavy sarcastic tone.

"Really!" Mio replied while not getting his brothers sarcastic comment.

The raider aimed and fired at the boxcar and hit the side with a thunderous blast that blew off some of the wheels in the back, making the boxcar wobble even worse then the last one. The guys in the cart wasted no time and hopped out onto the passenger boxcar. Jack turned and raised his sword high as the blade glowed white, and the red eye shined. He swung the blade down and cut the locks, making the severed parts red hot from melting metal as the last cargo cart flipped off the tracks.

The seven ran into the passenger cart where the twins were. They took a moment to catch their breath after jumping off another cart. The twins ran up to them with concern on what caused the explosion they heard.

"Guys, what was that explosion?" Bel'la asked them.

"We got a maniac with a rocket launcher chasing after us." Aracane answered her.

Eli'ton looked out the window and saw the buggy coming. "Don't look now, but our rocket happy friend is getting closer!" He called to them as he made his helmet unfold onto his face.

The buggy speed towards them as the rocket launcher man was loading another one at the end of the launcher. Z ran into the room without a word and pulled out his new revolver. The raider with the rocket launcher was done loading and aimed it at their cart, ready to fire.

Z broke the window with his gun and aimed out. "Time to see what this magnum can do." Z said as he cocked the hammer. The target was a few meters from them and moving around erratically on the uneven terrain. Z took a long breath and concentrated on his shot. He lined his shot and pulled the trigger. The large bullet flew through the air and hit the driver right between the eyes and caused the buggy to swerve and the man with the rocket launcher fell back into the buggy and accidently pull the trigger and made the rocket fire off and hit into a long buggy, carrying many raiders. Another two buggies were down, but there was still many more to deal with.

The gang spread out more into the passenger boxcars. Z went back into the train engine and opened the cases. He pulled out a lever-action shotgun, four new handguns with long clips, a hunting rifle of his own, a strap of grenades, and finally took as much ammo he could carry from a crate with only ammo in it.

As Z finished loading up on his new guns, he looked over to the case that he didn't open. "Hmm, I wonder what's in that case?" Z said to himself and went over to it. He flipped the latches and looked into the crate. A wide smile came across his face for seeing the new weapon. "Oh yes, I'll save this for later." Z said with joy as he closed the case.

"What's in the case Z?" Aelita asked him.

"Let's just say it will give us an advantage if things get worse out there." Z answered her as he cocked his assault rifle.

"Oh, and things aren't already worse out there with these crazed raiders attacking us?" Jeremie asked in a sarcastic tone.

Z walked to the door as he got ready to leave. "Just keep the train at this speed, and turn the intercom system to open mic, so we can all talk to each other. Since all we got left is the four passenger carts and the carts with the cargo in it." Z instructed him as he then left the room and closed the door behind him. Z crossed over to the cargo filled carts and then into the second passenger cart where some of the others were.

Everyone was on edge, because they knew from experience that it is never this easy. They looked out the windows to keep an eye out for the raiders. They entered a new area that was mostly grassland on the right side, but a tall and long cliff on the left side that stretched for miles.

The sound of engines roaring was heard as they saw five big buggies riding a few meters from the train riding in a straight line from forward to back. The drivers had armored doors on their side, preventing bullets hitting them, and even armor flaps over the wheels. In the back of the buggy looked like some kind of harness system to attach something to it with raiders in the back waiting for something.

"What the hell are these assholes up to now?" Z said as he prepared for their attack.

As if to answer his question, they heard more engine roars, but it was coming from the cliffs above them. They looked up to see five more of the same kind of buggies like the five at their trains level, driving in a straight line. The gang noticed that the buggies at the top had a lot of men in each of them. In each buggy, a raider picked up a strange harpoon like device and mounted the weapon.

"What are those things? Some kind of machine guns?" Ulrich asked the others.

The raiders from the five buggies fired the guns and five hooks with cables flew through the air and landed in the backs of the buggies, clattering to the floors as the raiders in each buggy grabbed the hooks and attached them to the harnesses on the roll-cages.

"They missed us? How?" Miodelus wondered.

"They didn't miss." Alpha said to him and the others. "They weren't aiming at us to begin with."

The raiders at the top wound up the cables until they were pulled taut. Five long lines were over the gang and their train as the raiders at the top attached a line-harness and slide down the cables, hooting and hollering as they waved their weapons. They landed on the roofs of the passenger carts with a hard thud. There was at least over three dozen of them carrying melee style weapons, and some with assault rifles and shotguns.

A few of the raiders pointed down to the boxcars and opened fire. The bullets punched through the roofs and into the floors of all four passenger carts as the gang ran around and out of the bullets path, except for Alpha, since his metal body was unaffected by the gunfire. The raiders cheered and hollered until finally they were finally out of ammo and began to reload. Z took the opportunity and raised his right arm with the assault rifle in hand, and his left arm folding open to reveal his arm gun and opened fire into the roof above. His bullets burst through the top and hit some of the men on top of his boxcar and the slain raiders fell off the roof and rolled onto the ground and tracks.

Alpha followed suit and blasted away with his laser guns and burned through the roof with ease, both taking out and terrifying the raiders with the strange beams of burning light.

The raiders began to climb down the ladders and onto the small decks where the train carts would connect. They smashed the windows and broke down the doors and poured into the carts. The boxcar rumble began as the gang and the raiders fought in the cramped carts.

A raider took a charge at Odd, but he quickly leaped onto the top part of the rows of seats and began to pounce from seat to seat as the raiders took swings at him with their melee weapons of pipes, machetes, and various other type of makeshift weapons. He unsheathed his claws and sliced down a raider in one swing. Another raider tried to strike Odd down from behind, but Sam took the raider down with her bladed tonfa before the man killed him. Odd gave her a quick smile before the two went back to fighting.

In another cart, Aracane, Knulgen, William, and Jack were fighting their own pack of raiders. Knulgen was using the seats to get around like Odd was doing. He swung his sword like a madman while William and Jack fought back to back as raiders attacked them. Aracane grabbed a raider by the neck and tossed him out the window with ease before fighting off another group.

More raiders slide down the lines to the end passenger cart as Alpha took noticed to this. He calculated a plan and began to head towards the back. He passed the gang with ease, or struck any raider in the face with his fist and either knocking them out cold, or killing them in one powerful blow. Alpha reached the back of the boxcar and went outside and onto the deck.

Alpha saw Ulrich, Yumi, Kairaree fighting off the pack of raiders that landed on the roof and started forcing the three to back up towards the other cart. "Ulrich, Yumi, Kairaree. Make your way over to the next cart now!" Alpha called to them.

The three turned around and ran towards the end of the cart they were in and made it to the deck and jumped over. The raiders weren't far behind them before Alpha unfolded one of his laser guns from his arm and blasted at the raiders who ducked down from the lasers that tore through the windows and seats of the end boxcar. As the raiders were distracted, Alpha kneeled down and grabbed the clamps holding the train and crushed the locks with his hand with incredible ease.

The sound of metal crushing and bending was heard as the boxcar with the raiders inside shook while Alpha slowly got back up onto his metal feet as the end of the passenger boxcar scraped against the tracks and the raiders rolled down or held onto the seats. Alpha had the twisted clamp at chest level as Ulrich, Yumi, and Kairaree looked in wonder of their robot friends massive strength. As some of the raiders crawled to the top of the boxcar, Alpha gave the raiders a mocking wave with his free hand and in one push, flipped the boxcar as he let it go, making the passenger cart flipped over and off the tracks, ending the raiders for good as the gang was once again down another boxcar, leaving only three passenger carts and the two with the precious cargo near the train engine.

The gang was done with the raiders that landed on the train, but the raiders still kept the cables hung over them. The gang either looked to the raiders driving beside them on the right, or looked up to the raiders on the cliff.

"What are these guys up to now?" Z said out loud to his friends as he looked out the window.

"Hey guys! Those raiders on the right are heading towards us!" Said Leadonus, as pointed outside.

The raiders on the right speed towards them with the raiders taking the hooks off the harness. As they got close enough, they threw the hooks onto the passenger carts. The hooks caught into the two carts near the cargo carts and the gang realized what they were doing. The raiders were trying to derail the train from the tracks by pulling it over.

Z quickly took his hunting rifle and fired a shot at the front driver while Odd drew his bow and fired an arrow at another driver through the neck as Alpha open fire with his laser guns at another buggy, tearing it to pieces and punching big holes in it before it flipped and crashed. One buggy got close beside them with two raiders trying to jump on as Z quickly pulled out his lever-action shotgun and busted out the window and fired two quick blasts at them and then shot the driver as the buggy swerved and flipped. Finally Z took a grenade and pulled the pin and threw it into the driver seat of the last cart. The driver tried to get it out while keeping the buggy steady, but as soon as the raider grabbed it, the grenade exploded and sent the buggy flipping.

The raiders on the right were gone, but they suddenly felt the raiders on top of the cliff slowing down to pull the train over. The wheels scraped and sparked against the tracks as they held on, unable to stop them since the lines were pulled tight and the hooks were on the outside of the boxcar.

The gang thought they were done as they got ready to be flipped over, but suddenly the raiders loosened up and the train stopped struggling against the tracks.

"What? Now they don't want to flip us?" Odd asked them as he looked out the window.

"Look down and you will see why." Yumi said to him, pointing down.

Odd and the others looked to see that they were no longer on solid ground, but on a track bridge high up in the air with a long and very wide cliff, many feet up in the air. The raiders were still attached to them, but stopped trying to pull the train over, due to the fact that if they derailed the train, then the cargo would be lost.

"Guys, we need to take advantage of this now." Z said to them. "Go out and grab the hooks and bring them to the last boxcar before we reach the end of this track bridge." Z instructed as he went to the door and climbed up the ladder.

Four of the others wasted no time as they too went outside and climbed the ladders. They all carefully crawled on the roof and towards the hooks. Odd crawled to one hook on the side of the roof and pulled it out while Ulrich did the same. Not far from them Aracane pulled out a hook with ease. Ralfaius finally managed to take his hook out while Z pulled his hook out of the roof with ease too, thanks to his left arm.

Z waved for the others to follow him as they ran down the roofs until they reached the last cart and jumped to the deck, one by one while still holding the hooks.

"So what's the plan Z? What are we going to do with these hooks?" Ralfaius asked him.

Z wrapped the cable around the deck rail and locked the hook in place. "Easy, we're gonna give them a one-way ticket to the bottom of the canyon below us." Z explained to them.

"So we're going to loose yet another boxcar just to get rid of these guys?" Ulrich asked as he began to wrap his hook around the deck rail.

"We don't have much of a choice buddy." Said Odd as he too began to wrap his hook around the deck rail.

The other two did the same and the deck rail finally had all five hooks tied on. The others in the boxcar quickly got out and into the last two passenger boxcars as Alpha came out to where the five of them were, knowing their plan.

"Alpha, flip this cart off the tracks when your good and ready." Said Aracane with a smile as the five backed away and into the passenger cart with the others.

Alpha nodded and turned to the connecting locks and blasted the locks until it broke free and the passenger cart began to slide away from them. Alpha reached out and grabbed the rails of the boxcar and pulled it towards him as he held onto the other rail while keeping a firm grip on the hooked boxcar and began to lift the boxcar and flipped it off the tracks with barely any effort. The raiders at the top were too late to notice what the gang was doing as the boxcar fell off on the left side of the tracks and the cables tighten from the pull of the boxcar as the buggies were pulled off the cliff with the raiders flying out and down into the canyon below them.

A loud explosion was heard as the buggies exploded, and they were finally rid of the pack of raiders. The gang cheered again as the train finally got back onto ground level and back into open fields. Their destination was still far from them, but they hoped to be in the clear from the raiders. They all regrouped into a signal boxcar to discuss what to do next as they cleared out any dead raiders off the train.

"Well guys, where ever we seem to go, assholes follow us." Knulgen said as he leaned back into a seat.

"We do deal with a lot of trouble, but we can't let that get us down guys." William said to them.

"All that matters is, that we are safe, and so is the cargo. We won against those raider trash." Z said as he checked over his ammo and guns.

"I think we should go check on Jeremie and Aelita. I'm sure they would want to know if we're safe or not." Yumi said to them as she turned to the door.

"Good idea, let's-" Ulrich never finished talking, for they were all knocked to the ground as the back of the train was struck by something.

They got up and grabbed what they could and looked out the window to see the buggy with the cowcatcher again. The buggy speed up again and rammed the passenger cart again that shook the cart. The buggy kept slowing down and speeding up again with incredible force that broke off some of the back part of the passenger cart and creating an opening and giving them a better look of the buggy. The front was very wide, and had a lot of heavy armor covering it. Z took out one of his disposable handguns and fired at it, but the bullets only bounced off it as Z went through the other three guns.

With the bullets ineffective, the buggy used the boosters and rammed the cart harder. The gang filed out of the passenger cart one by one as the buggy rammed again and the cart began to squeal on the tracks. Alpha quickly blasted the locks with a charged shot from his laser gun as Ulrich was the last to jump over as Yumi caught his hand and pulled him onto the cart just as the passenger cart flipped off the tracks and the buggy speeding towards them. The gang ran to the back end of the last passenger cart as the buggy began to ram again.

"They're going to keep ramming us until all the carts are off the tracks with us all dead." Leadonus said as he braced from another ram.

"It's a crazy plan. Since the crates are made of metal and reinforced, they would survive the crash, and we would be out of the picture." Deotalus added.

"I know how we can end this." Z said as he ran for the door.

"What the hell are you talking about?! What are we suppose to do?!" Knulgen shouted to him as they got rammed again.

"Just hold on and I will be back. Get in the next cart if this thing starts to go." Z replied as he left. Z ran down the cargo carts with blinding speed and ran into the engine room and went to the weapons crate he opened awhile ago.

"Z? What are you doing in here? What's hitting us?" Aelita asked him as Z looked through the crate.

"It's a buggy with a ramming part attached to it." Z answered her. "It's covered in armor, but I know just the thing to even the odds." Z said as he pulled out a new weapon from the crate. It was a missile launcher with a long five shot missile clip. Z loaded the missile clip into the top part. "Time to end this." Z said to himself as he left the room.

"Looks like we're gonna need to cover our ears Aelita." Jeremie said to her as he went back to monitoring the trains speed and direction.

Z ran through the cargo cart and back into the passenger cart that was thankfully still there, but the others were holding on. They then noticed Z's missile launcher.

"Where did you get that thing Z?" Kairaree asked him with surprise.

"It was in one of the crates. Markus must have put it there in case of an emergency. And what better of an emergency then this?" Z answered her.

"Just don't blow us up with the buggy." Said Odd as he held on from another ram.

Z held onto the seats with one hand as the buggy kept ramming the back of the passenger cart. Some of the back broke off and made an opening like the last cart, which would actually work to his advantage by giving him a clear shot. Z got on one knee and held the launcher up and pushed a button that made a targeting screen flip out and looked through it with his right eye.

The buggy began to back up to prepare for another ram as Z lined up a shot at the square bulletproof window. The buggy blasted the turbo boost and speed towards them for another ram. Z pulled the trigger and a blast of smoke came out the back and launched a missile out the barrel. The missile flew through the air and burst into the window and followed by an explosion that sent the whole big buggy bursting in flames and ending the raider assault on them for good.

Z got up from his kneeling position and lowered the launcher as the others cheered again, this time their victory was true. The raiders were gone and the cargo was safe and secure. The passenger cart was banged up, but still stable enough to ride in.

An hour and a half passed as the gang finally came up to their destination as the train station finally came into view with a few people standing at the loading bay waiting for them. The battle was long and arduous for them, but they managed to beat the rampaging raiders and get to their destination with the cargo and themselves in one piece.

The train began to slow down, and the gang will help unload and give the supplies to the Grand Militant army that is waiting for them. The gang have finished yet another battle, and will soon be joining in a new battle, and hope to discover if Xana's men are supporting the rebel forces, and uncover why?

**END CHAPTER.**


	35. THE BLADEMASTERS CUT

**CHAPTER 35: THE BLADE MASTERS CUT**

The gangs train rolled into the station where several troops stood waiting for them. They wore dull and dark gray combat armor and top of the line assault rifles. A human man stood in front of the rest of the troops. He wore similar armor, but he had a short cape that went down to his waist and long shoulder pads. He looked fairly young, with short blonde hair and a small scar on the side of his left eye.

The train came to a full stop and blew out the steam. The train was fully off and the gang stepped out through the banged up passenger cart with Alpha wearing his mask cloak. The man approached the gang and held out his hand to them as Z took it in return and they shook.

"Glad your all here, my name is Davis, I'm the leader of this section of the Grand Militant army." The man Davis said to them.

"My name is Z, and these are my friends." Z said to him as he gestured to the others.

The others introduced themselves to the leader Davis, but Alpha simply said his name was Al, since 'Alpha' isn't a normal name for a person to have.

"Well now that we have introduced ourselves, let's get the cargo unloaded." Said Davis as he signaled his troops to begin unloading the cargo. They rolled in dollies and went to the two cargo boxcars and opened the sliding doors and the troops began to carry crates off one by one.

As the troops worked, Davis turned to the gang to discuss what has happened in the last few hours. "I can see you all had quite a hard time getting here. Were you attacked by someone?" Davis asked them as he pointed to the banged up train and boxcars.

"We were almost halfway here when raiders attacked us in buggies. It was a difficult fight, but we managed to take them all out." Explained Z. "By any chance could they be the rebel force that's been attacking this area?"

"It sounds like them, they wear strange armor and fight with random weapons. I don't know how they found you all, but you got here safe and sound, and that will damage their moral." Davis said to them with a smile.

"We can find out about that when we find the people in charge of the rebels." Said Ulrich.

"Speaking of which, we heard that there have been strange people in black armor helping the rebels. Is that true?" Aelita asked him.

"Yes, for some time the rebels have been getting weapons and vehicles from people in black armor. They bring the weapons, then the raiders attack whatever they want." Davis explained to them.

"There's not even any reason why they attack? They just attack for the hell of it?" Aracane asked with anger in his rough voice.

"I'm afraid so. But here is not the place to discuss it. Follow me back to our camp and I'll fill you warriors in on the rest." Davis said as he turned around and began to lead the gang.

As they left the train station, the gang saw more of the town that they stopped in. The town was nothing special in look or design. People walked around doing their business as Davis lead the gang to their camp which took about fifteen minutes. The camp was at the front of the town. It was walled off and fortified with a few troops standing at the front.

Davis waved to them, signaling to let them in. The guards opened the gate and they all walked in. The camp was alive with activity, troops ran around in formation as part of daily training. Some were tuning up the many vehicles while others were working on the weapon and ammo stocks. In some of the tents laid troops with bandages and gauze wrapped around various parts of their bodies as doctors attended to whoever needed attention on their wounds.

They came up to the main tent that was the command center of the Grand Militant and went inside. Troops were at various terminals and looking at satellite images of the rebel forces locations. Davis walked over to a table like terminal with a large touchscreen with images of the area they were in. He leaned over it and began to touch the screen and bring up folders of images and data while the gang stood around the terminal.

"Okay warriors, what do you need to know?" Asked Davis.

"We need to know as much of the black armored people as possible for starters." Z said as he looked over the terminal.

Davis clicked the files and opened up a number of recon photos that showed the black armored troops working with the raiders. The pictures varied from meeting places with the leaders of the rebels, to pictures of the black armored troops directing the raiders on unloading black trucks filled with weapons, and even a few pictures of the black armored troops demonstrating new weapons and how they work to the raiders.

"Those black armored troops sure have been busy with those raiders." Deotalus said.

"But the question is, why are they helping them? And what do they hope to gain?" Leadonus added.

"Well whatever their reason is, it hasn't been any good for the people and towns across the lands." Davis said as he pulled up files on his terminal. He began to show the gang more images of the raiders territory that they took over in the last few months.

Jeremie looked closer at the terminal screen. "These raiders have really gained a lot of land. What do they plan to do with it? And how much more are they going to take?" He asked as he looked over the amount of land the raiders have took on the digital map colored in red.

"Yeah, the raiders came from the Far Lands, deep in the areas where there is nothing but dust and desert for hundreds of miles. The place was a safe haven for the raiders, and they only attacked small caravans and anybody else foolish enough to enter their area." Davis explained to them as he pulled up more files on the touchscreen. "But like I said, in the last few months they've gotten very bold. They've attacked many towns, uprooted families, raided homes that we've had to evacuate before they hurt anyone." Davis continued.

"Then it's settled," Ulrich said. "We'll help out any way we can. We just need to find those troops in the black armor, we got some questions to ask them." He said as he crossed his arms.

"Damn right, my sword want's to fight." Knulgen said with a smile.

"If that is what you all wish, then I won't try to stop you, but we need to go over our plan for the attack tomorrow." Davis said as he began to pull up files on the plan of attack.

"Attack tomorrow?" Yumi asked. "You're planning to attack the raiders tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow at 8:00 sharp, we will mobilize our force out to an abandoned town, ten miles from here. The raiders will be making their way in full force. They have over three thousand of them, but we have over two thousand better trained troops. We will cut them off as they're passing through the abandoned town and attack the main force." Davis explained as he simulated the attack on the digital screen like a general would on a table with figures from long ago.

"So what would be our roll in this?" Jack asked him. "We would only be in the way of your army, how would we find the black armored troops?"

"Glad you asked that my boy," Davis said to him as he pulled up a different picture that had the black armored troops. "Whenever the raiders attack, the black armored troops are not to far away. They keep a distance from the raiders as if they're observing them, and on how they attack. We've tried capturing one of them, but they managed to escape before we got near them. So far, we've only seen three black armored troops." Davis explained to them.

"Observing them? What in the world would they be observing them for?" Aelita wondered.

"It is strange, but it can't be good. So while you're all looking for the black armored troops, we'll be fighting the raider forces. It will be a difficult battle, but I know you warriors can do it. The raiders mostly fight with melee weapons and their tactics and fighting skills are a horrible mess. Everyone fights their own way." Davis said, giving them the details of the raiders.

"Then I guess the only thing left for us to do is settle in for the day since it's past noon, and the counterattack isn't happening until the next morning." Said William.

"Until then, we'll go back into the town and find a place to sleep and come back here in the morning." Z said to Davis.

"No need, we got plenty of tents for you all, just go to the back of the camp where the troops sleep and dinner will be served in a little while." Davis said to them.

"Oh thank goodness, I could really eat." Said Odd as his stomach lightly growled.

"We appreciate this, but why are you helping us so much?" Z asked him. "Why would you let a bunch of teens charge into battle against almost impossible odds?"

Davis stood up straight from his terminal and paced around for a moment before answering them. "Well for starters, the cargo you all delivered will save many of our injured soldiers here today. And I can tell you have business with those black armored troops. Plus I was once like you all." He said to them, which caught their attention. "I lost my parents when I was young, and I had to fight to survive. So whatever you all need to do, I will let you find your answers."

"Once we get some answers out of those black armored troops, we'll go our way and let you all do what you need to do with the raider forces." Leadonus said to him.

"Then in that case, I'll show you all to your tent. Just follow me and we'll get you settled in for the night. Come along." Davis said to them with a wave.

As the gang walked down the large camp, the troops didn't really take much notice to them, or even waved to them in a friendly matter. Finally they reached their tent and went in. The tent was very long and large and bolted into the ground with many ties and stakes. The gang went inside the tent that had a padded floor, and twenty cots in a nice row with blankets and pillows folded at the edge of the cots. The gang put their backpacks down on the floor and took a cot.

"Well here we are. It's not a hotel suite, but it will do for now." Davis said as he gave them a quick tour. "I'll be back later, I just need to explain what's going on to some of the lieutenants. Take care." He said as he left the gang in the tent.

The gang was setting up their cots and settling in for the day. Ulrich and Yumi were side by side as they finished. Yumi was thinking to herself about what Ulrich was going to say before they were attacked by the raider bands.

"Hey Ulrich," She said to get his attention.

Ulrich turned to her as he just finished setting up his cot. "Yes Yumi? What is it?" He asked her.

Yumi froze up on what she was going to say, but needed to change the subject quick. She then noticed something different about him. "I couldn't help notice... that you've gotten taller. You're as tall as me now." She quickly said.

As Yumi said, Ulrich was now as tall as her, and even gained a lot more muscle on his body. All the fighting in the digital world of Lyoko didn't do the earth members of the gang much good as fighting in the real world would. Because all their strength and speed was simulated powers in the end.

"Your right Yumi," Sam called out too her. "Even Odd has gotten as tall as me. Now the boys wont look so small to our enemies." She joked.

"Ill have you know that in my family, we always start out a little short, then have amazing growth spurts." Odd said with his arms crossed in a pouting mood.

"They're just joking around Odd, we're all due for growth spurt anyway." Aelita said to him for comfort.

"Not me," Said Knulgen lying on his cot. "I'm taller then all of you."

"You're about as tall as the rest of us. And besides, I'm taller then you Knulgen." Aracane reminded him.

"Whatever." Knulgen replied.

The gang spent the rest of the day settling in. After awhile, they went to get dinner from the mess tent and went back to their own tent for the night as the sun began to set. Z grabbed some maps from one of the command tents and went over the plans with some of the others, and their method of attack and on finding the black armored troops that work for Xana, and getting answers out of them, one way or another.

()()()()()()()()()

Far away from the Grand Militants camp and a few miles outside the abandoned town that the battle will take place tomorrow morning, the raider forces had their own camp set up. The camp was surrounded by their dune buggies and heavy duty trucks with long beds to carry equipment and weapons. The raiders moved around the camp at their own pace with various weapons in hand. Some were at electronic grindstones sharpening their blades and axe and buzz-saws. In one part was a pen filled with big wild dogs barking and growling at anybody who passed. Some raiders were fixing their buggies while some were fighting over food and gambling with whatever they had.

In the middle of the camp was a large and raggy tent where the leader of the raiders discussed the plans of attack with his generals tomorrow when they advance into the town the Grand Militant is set up. The inside of the tent had a long makeshift table set up with many charts, and at the end of the table was a large throne like chair where the very leader of raider forces sat.

The leader of the raiders was a fierce lizardin man with black hair and a large scar on his face. His armor was large and heavy with long shoulder pads and dark clothes. He commanded his raiders on the method of attack until he looked over and saw his 'associate' that has been suppling and aiding them in their raids.

The raider leader noticed he wanted to talk and dismissed his raiders as the troop in black armor walked over to where the raider leader sat. The raiders were out the tent, leaving only the raider leader and the black armored troop. The black armor covered the troops entire body. The armor was pitch black and resembled modern military armor with a helmet that had a black visor covering his entire face with a sidearm at his left hip. The black armored troops face couldn't be seen, but could still tell that this one is a human.

The raider leader was the first to speak. "What do you want now? We're going to push into the next town where the Grand Militant is camped up. We don't need anymore of your advice." The raider leader said to him with frustration.

The black armored troop simply stood there for a moment before speaking. "I couldn't help but notice the raiders you sent out earlier today haven't come back. And even worse, the cargo on the train made it to it's destination. I also heard that the raiders were killed by a group of warrior teens." The troop said to him.

"Impossible!" The raider leader shouted. "Those were some of my best men! There's no way they could have all been taken out by a bunch of warrior teens in a short amount of time."

"Well guess what, they were." The troop shot back. "They were all killed, and one of my other troops confirmed it by looking at the wreckage and dead bodies of your raiders."

"So what? A squad of my raiders gone wont be enough to damage our forces. And once we attack the next town over, our land will expand even more then what we already have." The raider leader boasted to him.

The black armored troop was not impressed by the raider leader and his ego. "Tell me, raider leader Talgo, do you wish to be part of the new world that my master Xana is making?" The troop asked.

"What... what do you mean?" The raider leader Talgo asked.

"I asked, do you want to be part of the new world that my master Xana is making?" The troop repeated.

"Yes, of course I do. I want to become a part of the new order that will come to this world, and earn my place at the one known as Xana wants to create." Talgo answered the troop.

"When I found you and your raiders, you were just a few dozen. Now your army has grown large and strong as you killed off many of the other raider clan leaders and engulfed their numbers into yours. But the Grand Militant has been fighting back, and interrupting your forces movements, and cutting down your numbers." The troop said as he went over the things that have happened in the last few months.

"We regained our numbers by accepting more raiders into our fold. We will overpower them and defeat the Grand Militant." Talgo defended against the black armored troop.

"I'm still not completely sure your raider warriors are ready to be apart of Xana's army if they could be defeated by a few teenagers. But then again, they are not ordinary teen warriors." He said as he put his finger to the bottom of his helmet.

"What do you mean by that?" Talgo asked with curiosity.

"These pack of teen warriors have been a thorn in lord Xana's side for a long time, and they managed to harm him. But Xana will return, and when he returns, those little punks will pay dearly." He said grimly through his helmet.

"And where are these teenagers now? How did they managed to hurt your master and get away?" Talgo questioned.

"That is of no importance right now. But I do know that they are with the Grand Militant now. And I know that they will probably come charging into battle to find me and the rest thanks to our informants. That is also why I've come up with a plan to eliminate them." The troop chuckled.

"And what plan is that." Talgo asked. Suddenly the tent flap opened and the other two black armored troops walked in. One was a lizardin woman, while the other was a molknuc man. They both wore the same black armor, and their body shape was the only way to tell what species they are.

Behind them was a human man that didn't belong to the raiders. He wore a long black coat with silver inlets all over it. His pants had the same design with knee-high boots made of the most expensive leather. His top seemed to resemble the kind of shirts with the ruffles from a centuries past with a few large and long golden necklaces around his neck. He had rings on all his fingers made of gold with a different gem on each ring. He was a young looking man, with black eyes and slicked back hair, and a small goatee, and wearing a bandana with two long strands. On his back was a long black sword. The blade was eight inches wide, and over six feet in length with only one sharp side and curved tip and heavy head. The guard had long points at the sides with a long handle for easy reach.

"Who is this man that you bring into my camp unannounced?" Talgo demanded.

The black armored troop stood in front of the new man to introduce him. "His name Vorro The Blademaster, he is a mercenary hired by us to attack tomorrow. He is an amazing swordsman with a lethal blade, and fighting skills that would rival almost any sword master in the world."

"I don't care what he is, we don't need him and his assistance in tomorrow's battle." Talgo said, unimpressed by the mercenary and his title.

"Then no worries, he's with us." The troop responded. "The young warriors will want to find us. So we will do just that by luring them to us, and when they come, they will meet our blademaster and fall at his sword." The troop chuckled.

The blademaster nodded turned to the table with the maps on it. The table had a few metal plates with bits of food and a few beer and whiskey bottles. He grabbed two bottles and a clean plate and threw them in the air. The items reached near the top of the tent where some of the strands of light were and fell to the ground as the blademaster Vorro reached for his sword and in one mighty swing, cut the two bottles and plate in half without any effort as the perfectly cut items clattered to the matted floor in halves that impressed Talgo and the black armored troops.

"They will fall at my blade like many have before. Tomorrow will be the last day you will have to deal with these young warriors." Vorro said to them in a calm and steady voice.

The black armored troops were smiling behind their visors, and couldn't wait to see the mercenary in action, and watch the Lyoko warriors die, and avenge their master Xana.

DAY 22

The Grand Militant camp was already abuzz with activity as troops began to scramble. They quickly put on their combat armor and gathered their weapons and gear. The gang was awoken by the sounds of the troops and knew they needed to get a move on except for Odd since he was still asleep.

"Unbelievable!" Yumi said while shaking her head. "Four tanks and a military truck rolled by our tent and he's still asleep."

"At least he doesn't snore anymore." Ulrich said to her. "In fact, he hasn't snored or had a very large appetite since we got sent to this planet."

"Maybe becoming a cataranion was a good thing for him if he had these problems before." Sam suggested to them.

"Either way, he needs to get up. So get him." Z said as he was put his black coat on.

Ulrich shook Odd awake, and he slowly got up and dressed and the gang then headed out to where the troops were assembling and preparing for battle. The entire unit was standing in a large group as Davis, the man in charge went over the battle plans with his troops using a digital screen and projector to show the troops how they will attack while the gang stood in the back.

"All right troops listen up." He called out to them. "The rebel forces will be entering the abandoned town within the next few hours. Our forces will counter them when they make it to the town center. Our tanks and military trucks will attack first while we use our vehicles as cover. This will be a long battle, and we will be risking life and limb, but we need to do whatever it takes to make sure these raiders do not take another piece of land from anyone else, now move out troops!" Davis yelled as the other troops cheered too.

As the troops headed off to their trucks and tanks, the gang walked up to Davis as he dismissed his lieutenants and spotted the gang walking towards him. "Good morning young warriors, I see you are ready for battle." He said to them.

"We're always ready for a battle, we just need to get to the abandoned town and find those troops in black armor." Jack responded to Davis.

"No problem, our drone plane photos show that the black armored troops are very near the raider army with the leader Talgo right beside them. I have a transport truck waiting for you all just outside of our camp. We move out soon, so if you need anything, I suggest you get it." Davis said to them.

"I need some new guns and anything else I can use to fight with." Z said to him.

"Follow me and I'll show you our weapon reserves in the back." Davis said to Z as they both began to head away from the group.

"I guess that's our cue to head outside of camp while Z loads up again." Ulrich said to them as the rest of the gang nodded and left the briefing area of the camp and out into the area where the military vehicles were ready to go.

Z and Davis went into an armored tent where some of the reserve weapons were, and Z wasted no time getting loaded up. Z opened a case and took out a large assault rifle that fires over a hundred rounds with a double drum clip and a belt of ammo drums for the weapon. Z then took out a grenade launcher with six round fire and loaded up on a belt with twenty-four grenades and six in the launcher.

As Z went over his new weapons, Davis couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I must say, you Zarcanions really know how to go to battle fully loaded."

"I prefer to be armed and dangerous to my enemies." Z replied as he loaded his assault rifle.

"Now that you're loaded up, I suggest we make our way to the transport trucks and move out." Davis said as the two left the weapons tent and headed to the transport area.

The military trucks were loaded up with troops while another had the whole gang loaded on. Alpha still wore his mask cloak, and when they were in the clear, he will upload Jeremie into his systems. Z hopped on the truck while Davis stood at the opening of the truck.

"Alright young warriors, we'll be the first to strike the raiders and keep them busy while this truck will circle around to where the troops in black armor were spotted. They will have a number of raiders with them for protection, but you all seem more then formidable, so I have no reason to worry." Davis said as he explained the gangs part in the battle.

"Just take us there, and we'll take care of them." Knulgen said as he put his hands behind his head and leaned back against his seat with his eyes closed.

"Thanks again Davis, good luck to you and your troops. I know you can defeat them." Yumi said to him as Davis nodded in return and left.

The many military trucks and tanks rode off from the town with the gang's truck not too far behind. They quietly waited as the truck slightly shook and rocked as they got closer to the abandoned town. Finally after half an hour of riding, the Grand Militant army rode up on the outside of the abandoned town. The old town had dusty roads, and mostly made of wood and brick with most of the buildings being around one to three stories tall, and looked like it's been abandoned for quite a few years. The tanks began to drive down the streets while the troops unloaded from their military trucks. Just like the tanks, the trucks slowly rode down the dirt streets with the troops in large groups. Davis hopped out of the lead truck with a larger assault rifle and a dull gray cape to show his rank as he put on his helmet with a clear visor protecting and showing his whole face.

The gangs truck slowly rode away from the main force while they looked out the windows to get a better view of the town as the truck turned corners and got further and further away from the army. On the other side of the town, the raiders were near the abandoned towns center while the Grand Militant was almost ready for the assault. They had their trucks and tanks behind the old building, ready to roll out onto the streets and serve as barriers for the troops.

The raiders were unaware of the coming attack as they walked down the streets. There were over three thousand of them, and they all had various weapons and guns in hand, and even a few dozen buggies slowly driving beside the raiders with the engines gently rumbling. Finally the raiders made it to the town center, still unaware of the coming attack.

Davis had his troops waiting for the command to attack as he peaked from his hiding spot with a rocket launcher in hands. When the raiders were finally where he wanted them to be, he ran out from his hiding spot with the rocket launcher ready to fire. "Light them up!" Davis yelled out to his troops as he pulled the trigger on his weapon and sent the rocket flying and hitting a buggy with three raiders in it, and blowing it up in a flaming shower of twisted metal that killed a few raiders with the shrapnel.

The battle was on as the other troops sprang out from their hiding spots with the trucks and tanks rolling out for cover. They opened fire on the raiders as they too took cover behind their buggies and anything that provided cover and returned fire with their random assortment of guns.

While the Grand Militant and raider forces fought, the gang could hear the gunfire and cries of battle in their truck until it finally stopped and pulled over to the side of the street, and the gang knew it was their sign to get off. One by one they unloaded as the driver stuck his head out of the window.

"We just got a report that the black armored troops are in the area with the raider leader and a few dozen raiders patrolling around too. So be on your guard." The troop said to the gang.

"Thanks for the heads up, we'll take it from here." Aracane said as he waved them off.

The troop nodded and drove off, leaving the gang to finally search for the black armored troops in the area. Alpha took off his mask cloak and opened his chest panels to wrap his cables around Jeremie and upload him into his systems. With the gang ready for battle, they searched the streets with Alpha's sensors looking for life forms in the area.

After a few minutes of searching, the gang still turned up nothing. "Man, this is a waste of time. We're not going to find them at this rate." Knulgen said to the gang frustrated.

"Calm down Knulgen, it's only been a few damn minutes." Aracane said to him.

"Just keep your guard up guys, those raiders could be anywhere in town." Z said to them with his assault rifle held up and ready to fire.

Suddenly Alpha perked up and armed his laser guns and pointed in the direction his scans were picking up activity. "My sensors are picking up multiple hostile's heading our way." Alpha alerted them.

As Alpha said, a few dozen raiders came out from a street corner and thankfully haven't spotted the gang yet. They wore random armor parts, and had a wide variety of weapons like before. One of the raiders turned and spotted the gang, and right away, the raider began to scream while running towards them with a jagged machete that caught the other raiders attention and caused them to start running towards the gang. The raider with the machete almost reached the others as Z pulled out his magnum revolver and put a bullet in the raiders head and sent him rolling to the dirt ground at the gangs feet.

The other raiders saw Z killing one of their own, and sent them into a frenzy as they all charged. "Here we go guys, take them down!" Z shouted to the gang as he opened fire with his assault rifle with the double drum clip at the raiders armed with guns while Alpha did the same as the others fought the raiders with melee weapons.

()()()()()()()()

On a rooftop of a building between the Grand Militant and the raider armies fighting each other, and the gang battling the small group of raiders stood the troops in black armor, the raider leader Talgo, and the blademaster Vorro. The lead troop was looking through binoculars while still wearing the black visor over his face.

The leader troop looked over and saw the gang fighting the raider squad. "There they are," The leader troop said with a wicked tone. "I knew using some raiders to lure them out would work."

"I still hate the idea of using my men to find those warriors you're looking for!" Talgo said to him. "In fact, I want you to send your blademaster after them right now!"

"Patience Talgo, your men will not die in vain. When this battle is done, your armies will become a part in the new order, and our master Xana will be avenged." The lead troop said to Talgo.

"I will start heading to the battleground where those warriors are. I hope these warriors put up as much of a good fight as you all say." Vorro said as he began to head for the ladder to the ground.

"Don't worry, they will give you a great fight like no other." The black armored woman lizardin troop said to him.

"Then let's not waste anymore time before my entire army is killed." Talgo said as he climbed over the ladder and down to ground level.

The black armored troops were still standing on top of the roof as they waited for the raider leader to be out of range. "How much longer are we going to keep that raider leader and his army around?" The black armored male molknuc troop asked his leader.

"Hmm, as long as we need him I suppose." The leader of the three answered. "Whether these raiders fall at the hands of the Grand Militant, or defeat them today is of little importance. We will keep using raiders, terrorists, and dictators armies as cannon fodder for the main forces of the many united lands we will be facing in the future, as long as these overzealous thugs are out of the way in the end." The leader explained as they finally went down the ladder to join up with Vorro and Talgo.

()()()()()()()()

The gang was deep in the fight as more and more raiders poured into the fight. Leadonus leaped over three raiders with his scythe in tow and lopped off their heads in one pull. Jack charged with his sword the Excalion held to his side as he cut through raider after raider with powerful swings. Ralfaius held his sais downward as he ran after a few raiders as one spotted him and took a swing with his machete as the hothead brother slide under the blade and stabbed both his sais into the mans stomach and leaped up and pounced on two raiders as he drove his sais into their necks.

Knulgen was once again enjoying himself as raiders fell to his blade with Aracane right beside him with his ax lopping and decapitating the raiders. Deotalus swung the staff of his trident as the head cut and stabbed the raiders that surrounded him, but thankfully his weapons reach kept him at a safe distance. Miodelus wasn't far away as the hidden blades from his nun-chucks cut down any raiders that got to close to the loopy brother of the four.

Odd fired several of his arrows at the raiders charging after him until he needed to fight head on as he unsheathed his claws and slashed deep and deadly gashes into any raiders attacking him. Bel'la attacked with powerful thrusts and stabs with her staff-blade while her brother Eli'ton with his arm-blade gauntlets as the twins battled raiders. Sam had a blunt tonfa in one hand, and a bladed one in her other hand as she used the weapons in synch to block and counter raider after raider that got near her with deadly strikes to end their lives.

Williams butcher blade cut down any raiders that attacked him with ease as Yumi threw two fan-blades that cut into the throats of two raiders as she pulled out her short-sword and stabbed a raider in the chest. Kairaree threw her chain weapon over a raiders shoulder, then pulled the weapon and made the blade cause a deadly gash before reaching for her main dagger and stabbed into the back of an attacking raider, then twirling around just in time to cut into the throat of another charging raider. Ulrich was surrounded by raiders, but that didn't shake his confidence as they attacked him all around. His sabers flew fast as he twirled and slashed down the raiders that tried to kill him with his blades leaving deep cut into their bodies.

While Z and Alpha fired at more incoming raiders while Aelita hid behind a corner near a building until she heard a rumblng and looked over to see a tank rolling their way. The tank was desert colored with many spikes and barb-wire welded to the body of it. "Guys! Look out! They have a tank!" she yelled out to them.

The gang noticed the tank heading their way just in time as it fired a shell and hit a building that some of them were near. The missile hit into a wooden building that caused the front of it to collapse with a thunderous boom that sent some of them falling to the ground. Z ran up with his assault rifle and open fire, but the bullets only bounced off the body of the tank as it began roll towards them while Z loaded another clip and attacked, but to no damage was still not done to the tank.

"That thing is going to kill us if we don't take it out!" Deotalus shouted to the gang as the tank fired off another shell that hit the ground and even hit some of their own raiders.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Alpha announced to the gang as he began to charge at the tank.

Inside the tank, four raiders were piloting it with wide grins as one of them spotted Alpha charging to them. "What the fuck is that thing coming at us?!" One of them shouted while looking through the view window.

"Who gives a shit? Run the damn thing over!" The missile operator shouted as they loaded another round. The raiders cheered in response as they speed the tank up.

The gang gasped as Alpha got right in front of the tank and slammed his massive hands into the tanks front and was pushed back a few feet while standing his ground as his feet dragged into the dirt road with the raiders laughing inside the tank. Suddenly Alpha got a footing in the dirt and stopped the tank from moving with the tracks digging into the ground as Alpha then grabbed the underside of the tank with one hand and picked the tank up from the ground and amazingly flipped it over on it's side with the muffled screams of the raiders inside the tank as the several ton war machine rolled on it's top and incapacitating the tank for good.

"Alright, no tank can take out our more awesome war machine!" Odd cheered to Alpha.

"Thank you Odd... I think?" Alpha replied a little confused at Odd's comment.

Z glanced over to the side as he noticed another tank coming out from another corner. "Alpha! We got another one rolling our way here!"

Alpha turned and saw the tank coming and wasted no time charging after it. The tank cannon barrel was turning to the gang, the raider at the controls was just about to pull the trigger as Alpha jumped onto the tank and grabbed the middle of the barrel and crushed it like a soda can just in time as the raider was too late to stop himself from pulling the trigger. The missile in the tube launched, but was detonated by the crushed barrel and the explosion blew off the tube and ruptured the inside of the tank, killing the raiders inside.

Black smoke plumed from the tank and the wind gently blew it to the side with the gang hoping that was the last of the tanks. As Alpha rejoined with the rest of the gang with the raiders standing far away from them after finally looking at their loses against the young warriors. Suddenly they heard the sound of slow clapping and looked over to where the tank that Alpha destroyed from the inside out.

Out of the black smoke came the black armored troops with the leader clapping. "Impressive warriors," The leader said to the gang. "Despite the fact you all committed a blasphemous offense against our master Xana, we're still impressed by your fighting skills." The leader said to them.

The gang huddled up with their weapons held firm. "So you're the black armored troops supporting these raiders." William sneered to them.

"Really? What gave it away? Was it the black armor we wear?" The leader replied as they began to laugh through their visors.

"Okay, now that we've had our laugh, why are you helping these raiders? What are you trying to gain from this?!" Z demanded them.

"People have always had recruitment offices, and military scholarships to get people in armies, we prefer that potential recruits 'prove' their worth in the army of Xana." The leader explained to them.

"And destroying lives, and ruining peoples homes apart of that recruitment too?" Kairaree asked in disgust.

"Well you know what they say... you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs in the process." One of the other armored troops said to them.

"Not anymore!" Ulrich said, stepping forward. "We're putting an end to your 'recruitment' operation for good!" He said as he raised his swords.

"We thought you would say, so we brought an extra sword into the fight. Or should we say, a blademaster?" The leader said as the man known as Vorro stepped out of the black smoke.

"Who the hell is this asshole?" Knulgen asked nonchalantly.

"This man is Vorro the blademaster. A mercenary warrior with a blade as sharp as his fighting skills. He will quite the challenge before he kills all of you." The other troop said to them.

"That reminds me," The leader suddenly said. "Vorro, make sure you don't kill the pink-haired girl, our master would like to have a word with her." He chuckled.

"Understood." Vorro said as he dashed after the gang with amazing speed while reaching for his blade.

The gang was ready for his attack as they suddenly noticed the raiders began to attack again, which forced the gang to spilt up into small groups. Alpha began to blast away with his laser guns as he noticed four more tanks rolling down the street to where the Grand Militant was fighting.

"Alpha!" Leadonus called out to him. "Go destroy those tanks before they flank the militant." He said to Alpha as he took down two raiders in one swing.

"There are too many raiders for you all to fight on your own." Alpha responded as he casually blasted a charging raider in the chest with a laser blast from his laser guns.

"Go, we can handle them. You just stop those tanks before they attack the G.M from behind." Jack called out as he cut three raiders down in one swing of his sword.

Alpha nodded and ran down the street to attack the tanks while the gang fought the raiders. Z strapped his assault rifle and pulled out his main handguns and fired away with deadly precision. The others fought off raiders while Vorro the blademaster attacked any of the gang that was in his blades path. Ulrich ducked from a raiders weapon then returned the attack by stabbing him in the chest as he then spun on his heel and delivered a killing blow to another raider.

The Surfane brothers fought together again like they always do as they fought a dozen raiders at once. Leadonus reaped his scythe around in wide swings with the side handles on the staff part of his weapon while Deotalus stabbed and countered with his trident. Ralfaius took out his butterfly short-swords and blocked the raiders strikes and disarmed them before delivering a killing blow. Miodelus took out his three-section-staff with the hidden blades sticking out the ends and twirled the weapon around at any raiders foolish enough to get in his range.

The twins, William, Odd, Sam, and Jack were grouped up and taking down any raiders that came after them. Williams butcher sword made the raiders attacks worthless while Sam battled the raiders like the brawler she is deep down as she ran her bladed tonfa into a raiders neck without noticing a raider coming right at her from behind, thankfully an arrow from Odd's quiver drove into the raiders back and ended him quick as she turned to see the raider on the ground with the arrow in his back, and Odd giving her a quick wave before bringing back out his claws. The twins took turns attacking the raiders, one would strike with a deep wound before the other finished the raider off, leaving them unable to fend off the twins attacking together.

Many minutes passed as the gang fought Vorro and the raiders with blood staining the dirt ground while the black armored troops stood near the destroyed tank with the smoke finally died down. The raider leader Talgo joined up with the troops, frustrated by his massive loses on both sides of the raiders battles.

"I am losing too many men! This battle is going to set us back for many months if we don't retreat!" Talgo yelled to them.

The troops stood there for a moment before the leader spoke. "You may actually have a point. We will retreat for now and leave Vorro to deal with the warriors, and he will return when the jobs done." The leader said as the three black armored troops seemed to slink away behind the destroyed tank. Talgo noticed the troops were gone, and he growled lightly before joining up with the black armored troops.

Yumi looked over and spotted the black armored troops and the raider leader Talgo running away from the battlefield. She then kicked the raider she was fighting and began to chase after them. "You're not getting away from us! I won't let you!" She yelled to them as she saw them going down the street.

A raider came running after her with a machete as Yumi spotted him and leaped back from his strike and blocked her off from the black armored troops and Talgo. She was just about to attack the raider before her senses alerted her as she ducked down just in time as a black blade swung at her back horizontal and cut off the raiders head as Yumi turned and dodged another swing from the blademaster Vorro.

"Sorry young warrior," He said as he slung the blade over his right shoulder. "But your fight is with me now." He said grimly.

()()()()()()()()()()

The streets were littered with bullet shells and clips as the Grand militant soldiers pushed back the raiders. The streets on the raiders side was covered with dead raiders and many burning piles of buggies from the missiles of the tanks, and massive bullet holes through the walls and hiding spots the raiders were from the heavy caliber guns from the military trucks. The Militant have cut more then half of the raiders numbers in half with only some injuries on their side with Davis in the lead, fighting away.

The raiders finally gave up and began to retreat with the G.M troops not far behind. As they chased the raiders down the streets, Davis signaled a transport truck like the one that the gang rode, and another truck with a long bed, six large wheels, and covered top that was a medic truck to carry injured troops away.

The truck pulled up to Davis and the driver poked his head out. "Yes sir, what do you need?" the driver asked him.

"The raider forces are being pushed back, and the other generals can handle chasing them away. We need to find those young warriors and see if they need any medical attention. I'll direct you to there last known location and begin our search from there." Davis said as he leaped onto the door step and held onto the handlebar near the door and Davis and the drivers began to search for the gang.

()()()()()()()()()

Alpha leaped onto one of the tanks and smashed the cockpit and ripped the top off and blasted a charge shot into the inside of the tank and destroyed it from the inside. He then ran grabbed another tank from behind and picked it up off the ground and incredibly flipped it onto the next tank that was several feet away as the two tanks were crushed and exploded. The final tank stopped and turned to Alpha as a raider opened the hatch and fired the gatling-gun at Alpha. The bullets ricocheted off his body as Alpha charged after the tank with his hand up to block some of the bullets as the raider yelled and cussed at Alpha until finally he reached it and grabbed the tank barrel and with all his might as the dials on his shoulders, elbow joints, and the back of his hands began to spin as he ripped the top of the tank off with the raider screaming and slammed the top onto the tank with sparks flying from the ripped sections. With the tanks destroyed, Alpha and Jeremie began to head back to help the others in their fight.

()()()()()()()()()()

Yumi dodged another swing as Vorro's blade got closer and closer. She was away from her friends and the raiders as Vorro's attack became more vicious, and Yumi was unable to counter from the long and wide blades attack.

Ulrich struck down another raider as he glanced over to see Yumi fighting Vorro alone. "Yumi, hold on! I'm coming!" Ulrich called out to her as he began to push through the raiders and ran to help her.

Vorro swung his blade and caused Yumi to lose her footing and fall to the ground with Vorro standing over her. For the first time in a long time, she was very scared and worried for her life as she began to crawl away backwards as she reached in her back pocket and grabbed a fan-blade and threw it sloppy and Vorro simply tilted his head to the side as it flew pass him.

"Too bad it has to end like this for you." Vorro said as he gripped his swords handle. "But my instructions are clear, eliminate you and your friends, so make this easy on you and you wont feel a thing." He finished speaking as he held his blade up over his head, ready to strike her.

"Yumi no!" Ulrich called out as he ran towards them, finally in the clear. Ulrich could hear his heartbeat in his head, time seemed to slow down for him as the mercenary Vorro's blade began to come down on Yumi. He couldn't think of anything to do, he couldn't think of a way to stop the mans black sword without getting them both killed. But that didn't matter to him and he instantly clicked to instincts and got between Vorro's sword, and Yumi while keeping his arms out stretched, and his sabers in both hands.

_SLICE!_

A few drops of blood hit the ground right between Ulrich's boots. He then dropped both his sabers as more blood began to fall to the ground. A straight line going from Ulrich's left shoulder and all the way down across his chest and stomach until it passed his belt and to the edge of his right hip as blood began to seep into the cut of his clothes as he fell to his knees and coughed up blood before falling onto his back.

"ULRICH!" Yumi screamed that froze everyone up as the gang fought of the last batch of raiders and noticed what has happened. Yumi leaped onto her knees as she crawled to Ulrich with tears welling up at her eyes. Ulrich's blood was pooling around him as Yumi crawled to his side.

"Ulrich please no! Please don't die! Please stay with me." She begged while taking off her small silk sash around her waist and pressed it hard against his open gash. The blood soaked into it quickly as her hands became stained with blood while Ulrich still coughed up blood. "I can't stop the bleeding, I can't stop the bleeding! Why wont it stop?!" She cried as tears freely began to flow down her cheeks and land on Ulrich's face.

"Yu...mi... I... I..." Was all Ulrich could struggle to say as his eyes closed and lost consciousness from blood loss, and even his face was almost as pale as her's.

"Ulrich no! No, no, no, no, please don't leave me, please, not like this." Yumi cried as she finally broke down crying across his chest while begging him to wake up.

Vorro stood there the whole time watching Yumi cry for her fallen friend. "That's the first time someone stood in front of my blade and survived, at least for a few minutes. But since you cling to him, he must mean a lot to you." Vorro said to her as he raised his blade above his head again. "No matter, if you care so much, then I will be happy to send you to him in the afterlife." He said as he readied his blade to strike.

Yumi couldn't think, her whole body was numb from being racked with guilt for Ulrich's horrid injury. She closed her eyes and waited for her end with Ulrich near and close to her.

A feral roar was heard that caught the three's attention as three arrows flew towards Vorro. The blademasters reaction was quick as he swung his sword and cut the arrows out of the air in one swing.

"You bastard! I'll kill you for that!" William roared as he blind sided Vorro and knocked his blade out of his hand with his butcher blade and tackled him to the ground. "I'm going to kill you slow for what you did you motherfucker!" William yelled as he began to punch Vorro in the face with all his strength.

After a minute, Vorro got the upper hand and flipped William off him with ease and leaped back onto his feet and grabbed his blade. The rest of the gang stood in front of Ulrich with their weapons held firm and even Alpha ran up to them since he saw the whole thing with his long range optics and sensors.

Vorro knew his odds were against him, and he knew that now was not the time to kill them. "Another time warriors," He said to them as he reached under the back of his coat and pulled out a cylinder. "Another time." He said again as he threw it near his legs and it exploded into a cloud of black smoke. As the smoke dissipated, Vorro was long gone and out of site.

They turned around and went to Ulrich. Odd, Aelita, and Sam were already at Yumi's side with her gently crying. Alpha began to scan Ulrich and could already tell his vitals were dropping, and his odds of survival low.

"Goddamn it! We need to get him out of here now." Knulgen said with gritted teeth.

"No we can't! If we move him, his intestines could spill out if that cuts deep enough." Deotalus warned.

"We can't just leave him lying there, or he will die!" Aracane almost shouted.

"Don't you think he fucking knows that too?!" Leadonus defended.

The gang heard a truck horn blow as they turned to see Davis riding on the side of a medic truck with the transport truck behind it. The trucks stopped near them as they waved for it.

Davis leaped off the side and ran up to them. "Warriors, is everything all right? What happened he-" He stopped speaking as he spotted Ulrich lying in a pool of his own blood With Yumi, Odd, Sam, and Aelita still kneeling. "Oh my god... Medics!" He yelled to the medic truck while some of them stood back.

Four medic troops with a stretcher in hands and medic bag leaped out of the back of the truck. They ran to where Ulrich was lying and began to go to work as one began to check his pulse while the others around him backed away.

"He's still alive, but barely. We need to get him in the truck now, it's his only chance." A molknuc medic said as the four paramedics gently lifted Ulrich onto the stretcher with blood dripping right through it and onto the ground. Odd grabbed Ulrich's sabers as Aelita spotted Yumi's fan-blade and picked it up.

"We need to head back to the town. It's his only hope, they have a hospital that can help him." Davis said to the gang as the paramedics loaded Ulrich onto the long truck. Yumi, Odd, Z, and William leaped into the back with him while the others began to load into the transport truck.

"We'll go with Ulrich in case they our help, just get us to the hospital. Every minute counts." Z said to Davis as he closed the truck doors.

Davis nodded as he headed to the passenger seat. He saw Alpha loading up into the truck with his mask cloak in hand, and was amazed to see a robot, but only for the moment as he went back to focusing on what's important as he climbed into the passenger seat of the medic truck. "To the towns hospital driver. And step on it, and if you see any raider bastards in our way, run them over with extreme prejudice!" Davis commanded.

"With pleasure sir." The driver said as he started the truck back up and drove.

With the medic truck holding the injured Ulrich, and the transport truck holding the rest of the gang in it, they drove down the dirt road and back onto the main road heading back to the town.

The raiders were pushed back with their numbers greatly diminished, and their will to fight almost broke. But the victory was bittersweet as the gang failed to catch the black armored troops, and now a dangerous blademaster by the name of Vorro cut Ulrich down with a near fatal blow, and his life slowly draining. His friends feared they were finally going to lose someone in this war against Xana. It was now up to Ulrich to find the strength to pull through and survive his wound, and if he does live, he will bare a scar that not only runs across his body, but deep into his mind as well.

**END CHAPTER.**


	36. DEEP WOUNDS

**CHAPTER 36: DEEP WOUNDS**

Ulrich's life was slowly fading, and the town was still almost a half hour away even at top speed, but Davis still kept the driver going at full blast.

In the back of the truck, the paramedics worked with all their skills to keep Ulrich alive. They cleaned his wound to give them a better view of the straight cut across his body. The wound was cleared of blood, but it still kept bleeding slowly. The paramedics kept pressing gauze to his cut while gathering more medical supplies.

"His blood pressure is still dropping. We need to give him a blood transfusion until we reach the hospital." A human man medic said to them as he checked the blood pressure gauge on Ulrich's upper arm.

"Do any of you know his blood type? We don't have much time." A lizardin female medic said as she looked into the cabinets filled with blood pack for different species.

Yumi suddenly perked up from the medics questions. "We don't know what his blood type is, but it doesn't matter, my blood type is O positive. I can give him my blood." She said to the medics as she got up and went over to their side.

"Good, we'll get you set up." A aquamarin female medic said to her as she got the transfusion machine started up.

Yumi rolled up her sleeve as the medic sterilized her inner elbow before sticking the needle in. Yumi winched from the pain, but to her the pain didn't matter, for Ulrich's was far worse. The medic put a needle into Ulrich's elbow and turned on the machine to begin the transfusion.

The molknuc medic was holding a syringe while filling it with a vial. "We need to give him an injection of this if he's going to survive." He said as he injected Ulrich in his other arm.

"What is that stuff suppose to be?" Odd asked.

"It's a medicine that will slow down his heartbeat enough so he doesn't bleed out and keep him alive." He replied while finishing the injection.

"Just do what you need to do. We can't lose him like this." William said to the medics with a calm voice.

"The medics are doing their best to help him, but it's up to Ulrich to pull through." Z said to him as the medics worked.

In the transport truck, the rest of the gang sat with quiet worry for Ulrich, and hoped they would reach the hospital in time. Alpha released Jeremie from his systems as the smart boy took his seat. He saw Ulrich from Alpha's point of view and was horrified by the cut across his chest, and what was worse, he saw Alpha's scans on him and his chances of living were in the very low double digits, and almost into the signal digits, and time was running out for him.

Ten long minutes passed as the medic truck finally arrived into the town thanks to driving at a almost reckless speed with a clear path for them straight to the small hospital while blaring the emergency sirens on the medic trucks top. They arrived at the small but three stories building with several doctors and medic staff waiting at the pick up bay. They got the radio call from Davis since he had a phone number to the hospital since they sent the severely injured troops to it all the time.

The medic truck pulled in backwards and the paramedics went to work as one of them took the needle out of Yumi's arm, and the doctors and scrubs went to work with Ulrich as they loaded him stretcher onto a wheeled one and began to work. The other four hopped out of the medic truck while the others got out of the transport truck with Alpha wearing his mask cloak. The doctors looked over Ulrich before they started calling out for things they needed as they rolled him into the hospital with the gang following close behind.

"Get some iv's, we're gonna need a lot of them." One of the doctors shouted.

"Put a oxygen mask on him, we need to keep his blood healthy, and keep him breathing." Another doctor called.

"Nurse, take this blood sample and find his blood type and get as many blood packets as you can." The head doctor said as he gave a swab sample to a nurse.

"Right away doctor." She said as she left to run the sample.

The doctors finally pulled into the operation room and began to work. The gang was escorted by Davis to a window to watch since he was very sure they wouldn't want to go in the waiting room, and he couldn't bring himself to argue with them as they watched the seven doctors begin to work.

The doctors pulled up many medical equipment and surgery tools. They had to gently take his top off since they couldn't cut it off because it was too thick with leather padding and then pull off his pants and boots, leaving him in his dark boxers, but didn't bother with his headband since it was of little importance.

They put his bloody top and pants, boots, and sheaths in a bin to clean and gather later. Odd put Ulrich's sabers in his arrows quiver since he was almost out of arrows anyway.

The doctors began to work on Ulrich's cut by clamping off the bleeding with forceps and clamps while reconnecting the veins. The doctor who was at the head of the surgery was calling out the things he needed. The head doctor was an arachun man with dull brown hair, and looked almost middle aged, and wearing standard hospital clothes.

"We need to reconnect the veins before we began to close his cut. Get some more anesthetic in him and get his blood flow to slow down. Clean his mouth out before he chokes on his own blood." He said to his assistance's as they passed around tools and threw away used gauze and swabs.

The nurse that took Ulrich's blood sample came back into the room with a pole on wheels with ten large blood packs on hooks. "Doctor Renki, we have his blood type. It's AB positive." She said to Dr. Renki as she pulled up beside the operation table and hooked Ulrich up with a packet and gently squeezed it.

The steady and slow beat from the heart monitor was the only thing that was heard over the doctors chatter as they continued to slowly close up his cut as some of them used a camera light to see into the opening near his stomach to see if any of his internal organs had been cut.

"He's a very lucky boy, only his skin and muscles were cut, but none of his ribs or organs. But still, who could do something like this to a young man like him?" A doctor said as he finished his check.

It was over an hour as the doctors worked with the gang still watching. The blood on Yumi's body had long since dried up, and her cheeks were red and puffy from her crying. The doctors had gone through several blood packets and even had to send out for more with blood lightly dripping on the floor as the doctors used a suction tube to suck out any blood where it was not supposed to be in his body. Alpha continued to scan Ulrich through his mask, and his analysis still showed mix results as he waited for the doctors progress. The doctors were beginning the final part of the surgery and closing the cut until they heard the steady flat-line tone from the heart monitor. Everyone in the room instantly noticed as the gang tensed up from the dreaded tone.

"Doctor, he's flat-lining!" One of the doctors shouted to Renki.

"Get the defibrillator now!" Dr. Renki ordered as they rolled the machine up. He grabbed the two panels and rubbed them together, then placed them on Ulrich's chest. "Clear!" He shouted as he zapped a bolt into Ulrich's chest and arched his back from the shock. Nothing changed on the monitor except for a single beep.

"Ulrich, please no." Yumi said as she put her two dry blood covered hands on the window.

"Again, again now... clear!" Renki shouted as he zapped Ulrich again. "Come on boy, don't die like this, clear!" Another zap on Ulrich as his back arched with each zap.

"Doctor... there may be nothing more you can do. We've done all we could." A doctor said sadly.

"No, not yet. Not if I have anything to say about it... clear!" Renki replied as he zapped Ulrich again. "Come on kid, come back to us! There has to be something you need to do, there has to be someone you don't want to leave. Now come back dammit! Clear!" Renki said to him as he zapped him again. "Come on, clear!" He shouted as he zapped him again.

_BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP... BEEP..._

The steady sound of Ulrich's heart beating again on the monitor brought a sigh of relief from the doctors as Yumi almost fainted, and Odd and William had to catch her and keep her standing on her feet as Sam gently kept her conscious.

Dr. Renki sighed deeply as he put the panels away. "Let's finish up here and get his vitals stable. Good job everyone, we saved this boys life today." He said to his doctors as they went back to closing up Ulrich's cut.

After another hour the gang eventually tired of standing and had to leave the area. Davis escorted them to a small area in the hospital where they could clean up. Yumi had no choice but to take her clothes off since it was soaked in Ulrich's blood. She went into a locker room like shower area to take off her clothes. As she took off her kimono like top and wearing only a bra like top, she got a full look of her blood stained clothes just like her hands and almost broke down crying, which made the other girls of the group come in to help her calm down.

After a long shower, and her clothes thrown into a heavy duty washer to get the blood out of her uniform, Yumi had to settle for ordinary hospital scrubs until her clothes were clean. The rest of the gang was cleaned up to and waited for a doctor to come get them in the waiting room.

Finally a young cataranion woman holding a clipboard came into the room and caught their attention quick. "He's stable now, you can all come to see him if you want." She said to the group.

The gang got up from their seats and followed her down the halls for a few minutes until they came to a resting area that was mostly unoccupied by patients except for Ulrich. The doctor lead them into the room where Ulrich laid. He had a heart monitor hooked onto his chest with the machine making steady beeps, he had an iv over his bed with the needle in the top part of his right hand. He looked horribly ragged, and almost as pale as Yumi's skin, which was not normal for him. He was only wearing hospital pants under his white sheets.

Dr. Renki was setting up a transfusion machine. "Oh good, I'm glad you're all here. I was setting up the transfusion machine for him because we're a little low on his blood type at the moment, and he still needs a little more since he bled through the surgery, and I understand one of you has blood type O." He said to the gang.

"I do, I have blood type O." Yumi said as she walked over to Ulrich's side and sat down in a chair.

"But Yumi, you already gave Ulrich a lot of blood on the way here." Odd reminded her.

"I'll give him as much as he needs Odd!" She snapped at him, which surprised the gang.

"He only needs another pint and a half to get him back to normal." Dr. Renki said to them as he cleaned Yumi's elbow, and stuck a new needle into her arm and turned on the machine.

()()()()()()()()()

Back on earth, Ulrich's parents heard their son being horribly injured. But it was far worse when they found an image of Ulrich being sliced open and almost dying. Ulrich's mother almost fainted from seeing her son bleeding, and all his father could do was try to comfort her as he once again became angry that he couldn't do anything for his son, but he needed to be strong for both his wife, and himself.

The rest of the parents were worried for the Stern's and how they will handle their son's condition, but they would help them anyway they could. Yumi's parents were filled with all kinds of new thoughts about Ulrich, because for a long time they had mixed feelings about him. Yumi's mother thought that he was a very misunderstood boy, while Yumi's father thought he was just like any other hooligan boy who only wanted one thing. But now they had a whole new respect for him that he would willingly put his life on the line for Yumi without a second thought, and hoped that he survives his wound. Because when the gang somehow get back to earth, they would show how much Ulrich meant to them for saving their daughter.

()()()()()()()()

Yumi was finally done with the transfusion as Dr. Renki gently pulled the needle out and put a large cotton pad and bandage on her vein. Yumi was a little dizzy from more blood being drained from her body, but she didn't care, all she wanted was Ulrich to pull through.

"Well that should be it for now. The only thing let is for him to wake up." Dr. Renki said to them.

"When will he wake up? How long is the anaesthetics suppose to last?" William asked the doctor.

"The anaesthetics have worn off a while go, but what I mean is due to the blood loss and dying on the operation table has caused him to fall in a light coma state. He could be out a few days or weeks, there's no way of telling how long he will be asleep. But we will take care of him until he wakes up." Dr. Renki explained to them.

"Then in that case we will settle here in this town until he wakes up." Z said to him.

"If you all want, there's an old room in the hospitals basement that served as a temporary living area. I'm sure you all would want to stay as close to your friend as possible." Dr. Renki said to them.

"I don't know, we've already have quite a hospital bill for Ulrich. We don't need to add more to it." Deotalus said to the doctor.

Dr. Renki chuckled a little from his comment. "Well it's not like we are gonna take his stitches out if you don't pay. And besides, Davis and the Grand Militant already payed for your friends bill since they send troops here all the time." Dr. Renki explained.

"Thank you, we'll get set up now if you don't mind." Sam said to him. "Yumi, are you coming?" She called to her.

"No, I'll stay here with Ulrich." Yumi said as she pulled her seat closer to his bed. The gang quietly decided not to push her and just leave the room to set up the basement room form them. Everyone left the room and closed the door, leaving the two alone. Yumi looked over to him and noticed his headband was still on. She gently took it off him and placed it on the desk stand next to the bed. She then put her hand on his head and gently stroked his hair. "I'm sorry Ulrich, I'm so sorry that I let this happen to you." She gently said as tears came to her eyes.

Yumi then glanced down to his sheet and saw the top part of his stitches at the top of his left shoulder. Yumi didn't know what made her do it, but she got up from her seat and gently moved his right arm with the iv in it and reached for the top of his sheet as her hand trembled while she pulled down the sheet to his waist. Yumi almost threw up from shock as she got a sick feeling in her stomach as she finally got a clear look at his injury. Across his chest was the stitching that closed up his wound that was a lot like a zipper pattern with tiny metal bars to hold the slash closed until the stitches harden into his body. Yumi almost fell to her knees as tears began to gently come down her face again.

()()()()()()()()()()

Down in the hospital the rest of the gang were setting up their beds while Alpha just stood in the corner while still wearing his mask cloak. Davis was in the room as the gang set up for the day.

"I hope we're not going to get any diseases down here." Knulgen said to them as he gently flopped onto his bed.

"We're nowhere near any hazardous material Knulgen, and they keep that stuff sealed to prevent any contamination." Z said to him as he finished making his bed. "By the way Davis, I suppose I need to give your assault rifle and grenade launcher back. I'm just a little upset I didn't get to use the launcher." Z said as he walked over to him while reaching for his weapons.

"I'm surprised no one got upset with you carrying weapons around in the opening." Kairaree said to him as she sat down on her bed.

Davis just raised his hand in rejection. "It's all right, you keep the weapons. You're a Zarcanion, so there's no one more better to trust those firearms with. Just come by later for more ammo." Davis said to him.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to use them well." Said Z as he secured the weapons back on him.

"Now then, I wouldn't mind a little more detail about your friend with the mask and cloak on him. I doubt that it's a big guy in big armor." Davis said as he looked over to Alpha.

Alpha grabbed the mask and pulled the cloak off him. "I suppose it would be pointless to deny it. My name is Alpha, and I am a robot." He said to him in a simple tone.

The gang was worried that Davis would want to know where Alpha came from, or if he was capable of anything dangerous as Davis looked over the eight foot robot.

Sensing their concern, Davis turned to the gang. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about it, or I guess I should say 'him' to be polite." Davis chuckled.

"Yes, he is a robot being. It's a really long story, and I don't think we have the time to tell you everything. But I can assure you he wont harm any random person unless they attack us." Jeremie explained to Davis.

"That's okay, I'm not very tech savvy. I just mostly know how to pilot tanks and air drones. I know you kids aren't just any common wondering warriors, but this is something else." Davis said to them.

"Thanks, and we'll come collect our backpacks later. We just need some time to rest and get our heads straight." Deotalus said to him.

Davis nodded and headed to the door and turned to them. "In that case, I will head back to camp. I need to check on the injured and do a stock check on ammunition. We didn't lose any troops today, and that's as much of a victory. Also, don't worry about Ulrich, he's a strong warrior, and he will pull through." Davis said to them as he left the room.

The gang reflected on his words as some of them lied down on their beds and decided to rest up for awhile since it was just barely noon, and the day was still young. After an hour or so, the gang got up from their beds and decided to get up and look around town. Knulgen just stayed in his bed while Odd, William, Sam, Aelita, Jeremie, Kairaree, Z, and Aracane, went back to Ulrich's room to check on him. Yumi had put the sheet back over him with only his right arm over the sheet for the iv still in his arm.

She was still sitting in her seat as the others came in with her. "Hey Yumi, how are you doing?" Odd asked her, even though he knew the answer.

"Is there anything we can get you? Something to eat or drink?" Sam asked as she stood next to her.

"I'm fine." Yumi said to them bluntly.

"No you're not fine Yumi." Aelita said to her as she came over. "I know you blame yourself, but you have to know it's not your fault! It was that blademaster that did this to him. Ulrich was protecting you like he would with any of us, and you know that." Aelita said as she grabbed Yumi by the shoulders and spoke in a stern tone.

Yumi just sat there surprised for Aelita's bold tone, which was rare for her. But Yumi just sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"Tell me this Yumi." William suddenly said, catching her attention. "If you were in Ulrich's position, would you want him mopping around and blaming himself for what happened to you?" He asked her. William's words struck her deep as his words snapped a little sense back into her.

"What William's trying to say is that if Ulrich's going to get any better, we all need to help him every step of the way until he recovers." Kairaree added.

"We'll give you some space for now Yumi. Your clothes should be done soon, and we'll bring them up to you." Z said as they turned to the door to leave.

"Just to let you know Yumi, I doubt Ulrich was going to die from the beginning, he's just too stubborn." Aracane said to her before leaving the room.

Aelita turned to Yumi while reaching for the fan-blade she picked up from the battlefield that Yumi threw at the blademaster. "Here Yumi, you almost left this behind. I don't think you would want an uneven amount of fan-blades with you." She said as she gave Yumi's weapon back.

Yumi reluctantly took her weapon back as Aelita left the room with the rest of them. When they were gone, Yumi held the weapon up to her face and looked at it. She slowly opened it and looked at her reflection in the fans elegant design, and for a moment, almost forgot herself as she closed the weapon back up.

()()()()()()()()()

The rest of the gang decided to just take this as an opportunity to take a break from the fighting and think of their next plan of attack, and where they should go after Ulrich wakes up. Z and some of the others went back to the Grand Militants camp to gather their backpacks while Z went to load up on some more drum clips for his assault rifle and talk to Davis on any possible places the raiders would fall back after such a grave loss of their numbers and hopefully find the black armored troops again.

The day was beginning to come to an end as the others went back to the hospital basement for the night. They ate in the hospital cafeteria which surprisingly Odd didn't eat very much. Bel'la brought Yumi's clothes and weapons back while Aelita brought a tray of food for her. They went in with Yumi still at his side with only the sound of the heart monitor beeping. They gave her clothes back and persuaded her to eat, thanks to Bel'la jokingly warning her she would tie her down and force feed her if she didn't, and Yumi just decided to cave in and eat.

After she was done, the two left and Yumi went to put her clothes back on behind a rolling curtain in case Ulrich woke up, but she knew that was wishful thinking. With her battle clothes back on and looking almost new along with her yellow sash even clean and stain free, she sat back down in the large chair next to Ulrich. Even though her clothes were spotless, Yumi could still feel his warm blood on her as the images of him lying on the ground bleeding out came back to her, making her lean forward in her seat with her hands at her head. They have all gone through so much and have taken on so many responsibilities since they fought Xana on earth, then came to earthera to fight Xana in his true form. But nothing hurt her more then seeing Ulrich almost killed, and couldn't help wonder how much more they will suffer before this war against Xana is over?

The night finally settled in as the gang went to bed for the day. Aelita, William, Sam, and Leadonus came back to Ulrich's room to find Yumi asleep in her chair. Not wanting her to sprain her neck sleeping in that chair, Aelita asked William to carry her down to the basement and lay her in a bed as they called it a night with hopes of Ulrich waking up soon.

DAY 23

The gang started to wake from their sleep, another day to hope Ulrich will awaken soon. Odd looked over to see that Yumi was no longer in her bed.

"Hey, didn't you guys put Yumi in bed? Where did she go?" Odd asked them.

"Well there's only one place she could be." Knulgen said to Odd as he put his boots on. "Dumbass..." He then muttered under his breath.

"I heard that Knulgen." Aracane quietly warned him in a low tone as he put his boots on.

Everyone was ready to start the day as Jack, Aelita, Deotalus, Miodelus, and Sam went up to Ulrich's room and sure enough, Yumi was right at his bed, gently watching over him. She looked a lot better then yesterday, but she still looked shook up and hurting inside.

"Morning Yumi. When did you come back in here?" Miodelus asked her.

"Around three in the morning I think. Who brought me to the beds downstairs?" She asked them without turning her gaze away from Ulrich.

"William carried you down to the basement and put you in bed." Sam answered her.

"We were just concerned on where you went Yumi, that's all." Jack said to her with a concern.

"Isn't there anything you can do for him Jack? You do wield magic, isn't there any healing magic that can help him?" Yumi asked the prince.

Jack stood there quietly to think of a response to her question, but decided to answer truthfully. "I'm sorry Yumi, but my magic training in healing is very limited. The best I know is how to heal small cuts and burns, and healing magic is very tricky, especially if deep cuts like that aren't set up right, or if broken bones are not fixed in the position it's suppose to be." Jack explained to her.

"I see." Yumi replied as she slumped back into her seat disappointed.

"You can't stay in here all day Yumi, you need to get out and take a break. Come on, we're about to have breakfast down in the cafeteria." Deotalus said to her.

Yumi just sighed and got up to join them. She knew it was once again pointless to argue with them and joined them and the rest of the gang in the cafeteria. The others were already there eating, except for Alpha who was still in the basement. They were having casual conversations with each other, and once again, Aracane and Knulgen almost got in a fight over the last cinnamon roll. Yumi just picked at her food and ate it quickly, then went back to Ulrich's room. She arrived at his room to find three nurses working. They were changing his bed sheets and emptying his bedpan, then putting a tube in his throat to feed him, then finally brush his teeth.

Yumi just sat in the corner as the nurses worked. Finally Dr. Renki came into the room with a surgical tray in hand. "Hello there again Yumi, nice to see you." He said to her with a warm smile.

"Oh, hello doctor, what are you doing here?" Yumi asked him.

"I'm here to remove the metal clamps from his chest, then give him another layer of stitches just in case. I'm sure you young warriors are going to leave as soon as he wakes up. Dr. Renki said to her as the nurses finally finished up. Dr. Rennki removed his blanket and began to work on him as he removed the small metal clamps, then injected three shots of medicine right next to the stitches to numb any pain as he threaded a curved needle and thick medical thread and began to work.

Yumi slightly winced every time Dr. Renki pushed the needle through his body. "Dr. Renki, will he... will he have any scaring when it heals up?" She asked him.

Dr. Renki was down Ulrich's left peck as he answered her. "Well it's hard to tell right now, he needs to wait until the cut is completely healed before the stitches can be removed, and that will still be awhile since the cut went past his skin and into the muscle tissue, and he doesn't have any fat in him, so his organs were completely exposed, but amazingly unharmed. So he will most likely have scarring along his body. It's just a good thing the cut was clean, or the surgery would have been much more hard for us to treat." He gently explained to her as he worked.

Yumi just nodded to his response as he continued to work. After almost an hour of working, Dr. Renki was finally done with Ulrich and put all the medical tools back on the tray and left the room as Yumi went back to sitting at his side. When the doctor was gone, Yumi removed the blanket and looked at the new stitches embedded into his body as she gently ran her two fingers down it, feeling the rough but straight pattern until she reached his boxers as she suddenly realized she was at the hem of his boxers and quickly pulled her hand away as her cheeks turned deep red from embarrassment.

"Maybe I should get out a little more." She said to herself as she put his blanket back over him and left the room. She walked down the halls, lost in thought.

As she walked, Odd found her and quickly ran up to her. "Hey Yumi, I was just looking for you." He said to her.

"Hmm, what for?" She asked him curiously.

"Z went and talked to Davis back at the camp to convince the doctors to give us shots, since we earth born members are still not immune to this planets diseases and viruses." Odd explained to her. "But of course Z didn't tell Davis that we come from another planet, just that we need some shots." He whispered the last part to her with a hand beside his face.

"I suppose that makes sense, just show me where we need to go." Yumi said as she began to follow Odd.

The two made it to a large room that was like a check up room for patients. The gang was in the room except for Alpha as they got ready for shots as Dr. Renki was getting several trays of needles ready. Yumi saw another doctor taking a tray out of the room, most likely meant for Ulrich. The doctor and a few nurses began to inject the gang with several shots from syringes filled with different colored inoculations. The earthera members didn't have as many since they had their shots since they were little, but the three Surfane brothers had to hold Miodelus down since he was scared of needles, even though he only needed three shots.

The earth member had a lot more then the others, Z made up a story to Dr. Renki that they came from a more rural area, and didn't get as many shots like people do in towns and cities. They got shots for many major diseases and viruses, and also inoculations against illnesses that only effect humans, and shots only for cataranions since Odd is now one. After a few minutes, the gang was done getting shots and left the room as Yumi spotted the doctor that had the tray of syringes and noticed they were all empty, her guess about them being for Ulrich was right after all.

**(A/N: I know I might seem to be making a big deal about them getting shots, but the reality is, being on a unknown planet without knowing what it's germs and pathogens could do to you is very dangerous and even a simple virus could kill you. Ask any scientist that studies the possibility of what could happen when a person is exposed to a new environment of another planet.)**

Odd was rubbing his arm after having over a dozen shots in his arms. "Geez, they really stuck the needles in us. I'm surprised they didn't break the needles in our arms." He whined to them.

"Stop being a baby Odd, one of us is dealing with a lot worse then getting stuck with needles." Jeremie whispered to him as he looked over to where Yumi was.

Yumi was still lost in thought as she gently rubbed her arm, but she just shrugged and went back to Ulrich's room. Jack decided now was a good opportunity to fix Ulrich's suit. He went down to laundry room and gathered his belongings and found the clean as new top and pants in a bin, waiting for someone to pick it up. Jack took the small bin and grabbed Ulrich's boots and sheaths at the side and brought them back into their basement room.

()()()()()()()()()

Deotalus was building something in the middle of the room. He had a medical stretcher and several other items laid about and deep in thought of what he was doing. "Hello there Deotalus, what are you making there?" Jack asked him as he lied Ulrich's clothes on a bed.

Deo looked up from his materials on the floor to answer Jack. "Oh, het there Jack. I'm building a means to carry Ulrich around when he wakes up." Deo answered him. "I was thinking of using a normal stretcher and making it more sturdy to carry him on, and strap him down so he doesn't fall off. And I was also going to make six long handle bars for comfortable holding since we'll be carrying him for quite some time." Deo explained to him

"I see, that's a very good idea, I doubt Ulrich will be able to walk very well after an injury like that, and I know we will have to move on once he recovers." Jack said to the aquamarin genius as he began to rummage through a backpack.

"True, I'm really surprised anyone could live through that, but I'm glad he's still with us." Deo said to him as he went back to work. "By the way, what are you doing with Ulrich's clothes anyway?" Deo asked him.

"I'm going to fix Ulrich's clothes for him. I'm sure he would look a foolish if he wonders around with a large opening across his clothes. That's why I'm looking for some thick leather and cloth in these backpacks. I will you my alchemy powers to mend the material into his clothes." Jack said as he finally found the things he was looking for.

"Oh wow! I would love to see this in action." Deo said as he got up from the floor.

Jack put the strips of material on the side of the bed as he found a mannequin like stand and set it up and then put Ulrich's top over it and began to work. The prince cut up the leather and cloth strips with some scissors that Deo had and placed them on the top of his clothes as he then placed his hands on it as his palms glowed white and spread across the clean rip until it finally dissipated and Ulrich's top was as good as new looking. With the top done, Jack went to work on the top part of Ulrich's pants and belt, fixing them just as fast, and making the clothes look like new.

"As much as I like science and building things, it's still amazing to see magic like this. I tell you Jack, if you weren't a prince, you may have ended up as a tailor." Deo said to him as he looked over Ulrich's fixed clothes.

"Well I figured our clothes are going to get torn and rip throughout our journey, so we'll be constantly in need of repairs to our clothes. In other words, we will need to get some better padding and armor plating under our clothes later." Jack said as he placed the clothes on a spare bed and grabbed Ulrich's swords in Odd's quiver and placed them back in the sheaths and placed them next to the clothes as Jack decided to help Deo continue to build his stretcher.

The day continued on as Yumi went back to sitting by Ulrich's while Z went back to the Grand Militants camp again to discuss any possible routes the raiders went, and where the black armored troops could have gone with the raider leader.

()()()()()()()()

Odd walked down to a local hunting store with William and Aracane to get more arrows for his quiver since he used most of them up the other day. It took a little persuasion to the store owner, but he managed to get thirty arrows by using the money they've had left on them as the three went back to the hospital.

()()()()()()()()

Some of them were outside behind the hospital in a large open alley, practicing with their weapons. Kairaree spent her time twirling and spinning her daggers in her hands and between her fingers while the twins Bel'la and Eli'ton spared together. Knulgen practiced quick draws and sheathing it back all in one motion. Aracane did various exercise with whatever he could use. The other three Surfane brothers also spared with each other while Deo was busy finishing Ulrich's stretcher as soon as possible.

()()()()()()()()

In another part of the hospital basement, Jeremie was working on Alpha by tightening any parts and tuning up his armor plating and parts. "You know Alpha, no matter how many times I look into your body, I'm still amazed by the internal structure and mechanical engineering of your body." Jeremie said as he was working on opened section of Alpha's right forearm, looking at all the amazing parts within Alpha's body.

"I only wish that I could find out where and when I was built. I keep trying to access my memory storage, but I can't unlock the encrypted files." Alpha replied as some of the parts in his arms that Jeremie was working on moved and clicked.

"Don't worry Alpha, we'll figure it out one way or another. Just as Ulrich will wake up soon, things will work out." Jeremie smiled to him as he finished with his arm and it closed shut.

"Ulrich's wound has really effected you all, hasn't it?" Alpha asked him.

"Well it's a lot worse then what we've dealt with in the past, but yeah it has effected us greatly. I'm mostly worried about Yumi and how she'll handle it even when he wakes up." Jeremie said as put the tools away.

"She has... deep affection for him, doesn't she?" Alpha asked him.

Jeremie chuckled at this as he put the last of the tools away. "Yeah, those two are clueless with each other. They really need to stop hiding their feelings and just come clean." Jeremie said as he sat down in a nearby chair.

"Your emotions and feeling of affection for one another are... complicated to understand and process. So many variables and data to process. I notice changes in Odd and Sam's biometrics when they are near." Alpha said to Jeremie.

"Heh, not surprising. Odd may have dated just about every girl in school, but he gets serious when Sam's around." Jeremie smiled as he leaned back in his seat.

"I have also analyzed Z and Kairaree during some of our battles and noticed they are becoming quite compatible." Alpha said as he looked over the two in his data.

"Really? Well Z does seem to loosen up with her, and Kairaree does seem to understand him better then any of us." Jeremie thought out loud as he put his hands behind his head.

"I also noticed Aelita and you drastically increase in compatibility when you two are near each other." Alpha added.

"Wh- what?!" Jeremie said shocked as he almost fell out of his seat. "Well me and Aelita... you see the thing is... I need to go do something with Deotalus anyway. I'll see you later." Jeremie said as he quickly got up and left the room as his cheeks began to turn red.

Alpha tilted his head as Jeremie was gone from the room. "It seems he has a hard time understanding his feelings for her too." He said to himself and even made an involuntary chuckle.

()()()()()()()()()

Back in Ulrich's room, Yumi was once again sitting at his side with Aelita as she talked to her to keep Yumi cheered up with the things they did back on earth when Xana wasn't attacking as Yumi still kept her eyes on him. She didn't really pay much attention to Aelita as she talked. Yumi was still filled with guilt as she began to doze off in her seat.

()()()()()()()()()

Yumi walked down a dirt road that was gray and desolate as she looked up to the sky to see that it to was dark and gray. She then took in her surrounding to see that it was the town they were in the day before, but it was also gray and dark, as if all the color in the world melted away, leaving it gray and dismal.

She felt like she was walking for hours in circles in a town that seemed to go on forever until she spotted a splatter of red on the ground as she kneeled down to look at it. She slowly touched the red splatter and it felt warm at her very fingertips.

"This can't be. Is it? Is this blood?!" She said to herself as she got back up and saw a small trail going down the road. She ran down the road while following the trail, turning corners and walkways until she came into the town center and saw that the trail got bigger until she looked up to see Ulrich lying in a pool of blood. "Ulrich no!" She called out to him.

She ran to his side and gasped at what she saw. Not only did Ulrich have the open cut across his chest, but his whole body was battered and bruised, his clothes were ripped and tattered, and stained deeply with blood from open cuts, and even his sabers were at his side, shattered into pieces.

"Ulrich!" She cried again as she fell to her knees and gathered him into her arms as tears fell freely. She held his head into the crook of her neck as her tears fell onto his blood and dirt stained face. "Please no Ulrich, please don't leave me like this. I'm so sorry Ulrich." She cried.

"What a shame." A voice said to her. Yumi turned sharply to see Vorro standing over her. "Don't worry young warrior, if his lost means so much to you, then I will gladly send you to him in hell." Vorro smiled as he grabbed the handle of his black sword and brought it down on her in one quick swing.

()()()()()()()()()

"Yumi! Yumi wake up!" Aelita cried as she shook Yumi who was muttering and twitching in her seat. Yumi's eyes shot open as she leaned forward in her seat and gasped with a little bit of sweat across her head. "Yumi what happened? You fell asleep and began groan in your sleep a few minutes later." Aelita asked her as Yumi calmed down.

"I just... I just had a bad dream is all." Yumi said as she leaned back into her seat.

"It was more then just a bad dream Yumi. It was about Ulrich, and something bad happened in it. Right?" Aelita asked her with a stern tone.

"In my dream, Ulrich was lying on the ground in the town we were in and he was dead, then Vorro was there and cut me down. And that's all I can really remember." Yumi explained to her as the images of her dream came back.

"Ulrich's going to be fine Yumi, it was a bad dream and nothing else." Aelita said as she got up from her seat. "Well it's getting late, I'm going to go get some food from the cafeteria. The doctor said you need to eat plenty of fruits to get your blood pressure back to normal, I'll be back." She said to her as she left the room.

When Aelita was gone, Yumi looked back to Ulrich as she leaned back into her seat. "I swear Ulrich, I will never let anything like that happen to you ever again." She said to herself.

()()()()()()()()()

The day was beginning to come to an end as the gang called it a night. They brought their food to the basement this time as Aelita brought a big tray of food to Yumi, and even ate her dinner with her. Later, some of the others came to check on Yumi and Ulrich and talked to her for a little bit until they decided to go back down to the basement for the night while Yumi told them to let her stay in his bedroom. They decided to let her be and they headed back down into basement.

A few hours passed as Yumi stayed in her seat. She watched some tv, but barely had the volume on and wasn't even paying attention to it as she flipped through channels, watching whatever was on for a few minutes before changing the channels.

It was finally dark out as Yumi pulled her chair to Ulrich's right side. His bed was very low enough for her to put her elbows on the bed without discomfort. "Another day and you still haven't woken up from your sleep. If I ever see that bastard again, I swear I will do whatever it takes to kill that man. I'll do whatever it takes to make him suffer for what he did to you." She began to say as her eyes began to get heavy. "I believe it's pretty obvious why you put your life on the line like that. We've had our ups and downs as we fought Xana and saved our world many times. We've been afraid to tell each other how we feel. Even back on earth you tried to tell me something... that you wanted... that you wanted to tell... me you... lo..." Yumi didn't finish her sentence as she fell asleep at his bed side with her right hand over his hand with a new iv in it, and her head down on his bed, and surprisingly not uncomfortable at the way she lied on the bed.

Hours passed as Yumi fell into a deep sleep. The room was pitch black with only the light from the moons shining in. The small moon was at a sliver of a crescent, the medium room was halfway behind the large moon as the light poured into the room.

In the darkest corner of the room the temperature began to lower to a point that some frost began to form on the side of the window. Suddenly a red light began to form. It started out as a round dot that then had a circle form around the red light as another circle formed with a bar at the top and three bars at the bottom, it was the symbol of Xana. He stepped out of the corner and into the moonlight. His body was almost like smoldering smoke frozen into a body shape with no details to the shadowy body except for his symbol glowing slightly.

He began to walk to the left side of Ulrich's bed as Yumi began to stir awake. Xana turned to her as his symbol shined green, and Yumi fell back into a deep sleep as if she just had an exhausting day. He leaned over Ulrich and looked him over as a look of disappointment seemed to radiate from behind his mask.

"How pathetic, almost throwing your life away for her, when I could have let you have everything you ever wanted and much more if you fools choose to be my apprentices." Xana said to him as he raised his hand over Ulrich's blanket and flicked his hand over it as the sheet went down his chest. "What a hideous mark across your body, and for what? Her? That girl there, would she even give you anything in return? Would she give you her love? Would she give her body to you? And in the end, is it even worth it? Just to get injured over and over for something as short lived and feeble as love and desire to protect someone else?" Xana questioned him as if Ulrich would somehow answer him.

Xana looked over Ulrich's stitched cut with his eyes under the mask. "But then again, maybe all is not lost for you. I sense a power growing in you even as I speak." Xana said as he held his finger over the cut by his hip and began to trace it without touching it until he reached Ulrich's left shoulder, then slowly put his hand around Ulrich's neck and turned his face to his as his symbol burned a bright red. "I can crush you right now if I wanted to!" Xana growled as he slightly tightened his ice cold grip around Ulrich's neck. "But I'm going to let you live despite my better judgement." Xana sneered as he let Ulrich go and turned away from him.

"I want to see how this power manifests, and when it does, your friends wont be able to stand you. And even your beloved Yumi will be too terrified and disgusted of what you have become. And then you will come to me, broken and defeated, and I will finally have my apprentice at my side." Xana said as he chuckled and walked back into the corner of the room and disappeared into the darkness, leaving the two alone again, never to know that Xana was in their room.

**END CHAPTER.**


	37. XANA RETURNS

**CHAPTER 37: XANA RETURNS**

DAY 24

The morning sun began to shine into the room, and the light hit Yumi, and she slowly awoke her from sleep. She got up and begin to stretch while standing next to Ulrich's bed. Yumi turned to look out the window as the sun began to rise in the distances.

As Yumi looked out the window, Ulrich's fingers began to twitch as he slowly opened his eyes. He turned his head to see her looking out the window. "Yumi... is that you?" He asked her, his voice dry and rough.

Yumi gasped and turned to him as she saw Ulrich waking up. "Ulrich? Ulrich your awake!" Yumi called out as tears began to form at her eyes as she almost ran over to him and put her hands at his bedside.

"Yeah, I guess I am. How long have I been out?" He asked her as he tried to lean up in his bed, only to wince in pain as he clutched the bed sheets near his chest.

"No Ulrich, please don't get up, your wound still hasn't healed enough. And you've been out for over a day in a half." She said as she gently pushed him back down onto his bed. "Is there anything I can get you?" Yumi asked him.

"Water... please. My throats so dry." Ulrich requested as he put his head back against the pillow and rubbed his throat.

"Sure thing, just hold on." Yumi said as she got up and grab one of the cups from the tray with a empty water pitcher on the bedside table from last night and went into the bathroom and filled it with water. She knew it wasn't the best water, but Ulrich simply wanted it just to clear his throat. Yumi brought it back and helped him drink it down in a slow gulp.

"Thank you Yumi. I really needed that." He smiled to her as he grabbed the top of his sheets to pull it down.

"No Ulrich don't. You can't-" Yumi tried to stop him from pulling his sheet down.

"Yumi, I'm going to see it sooner or later. Now please, it will be okay." Ulrich assured her as he pulled down the sheet with his right hand. He slowly moved the sheet down his chest as his eyes went a little wide at what he could see on his chest. He slowly ran his fingers down the stitched cut with a calm but serious look on his face as he reached his waist and then went back up to his shoulder.

Yumi turned her head from him in shame as Ulrich looked over his cut. "Ulrich, I'm so sorry. If I fought better against that blademaster, you wouldn't have needed to risk your life to save me. It's all my fault that you're like this. It's my fault you will have a scar across your chest for the rest of your life." Yumi said to him as tears began to form at her eyes again, ready to cry.

Ulrich quickly leaned over and grabbed her by the wrist and gently pulled her to him. "Yumi... this is not your fault." He said to her in a calm tone. "I did it because that's what we do. We protect each other like we did in Lyoko, it shouldn't be any different here." He gently held her hand with the iv still in it.

"But Ulrich, this isn't Lyoko! You could have died for doing that." Yumi shot back at him.

"And you wouldn't have? Yumi listen, we're all going to get beaten, cut, stabbed, burnt, electrocuted, shot, and so on. But we can't let ourselves get discouraged or feeling sorry for each other every time something like this happens, or Xana will win. Our injuries can heal, but we will lose everything if we let things like this stop us from fighting that bastard. I'll heal back up and be ready to fight along with you and the others." Ulrich said as his powerful words sank into her as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

Yumi grabbed his hand with her other hand as the two held hands together which seemed to last a few minutes until the door opened and Odd stepped in. Hey Yumi, we're gonna have breakfast soon, do you wanna-" Odd said as he looked to see Ulrich awake and gasped. "Ulrich! You're awake! I can't believe it!" Odd shouted as he ran over to his bed. "When did you get up?" Odd smiled as he almost pulled him into a hug.

"Only a few minutes ago, although you yelling would probably knock me out again." Ulrich joked as he leaned back in his bed.

"Well I'm glad you're up. I was going to use my feet to wake you up since you fell into a light coma." Odd said as he laughed.

"Odd! Using your feet would have knocked me into a deep coma like it almost have many times when we were living in the dorms!" Ulrich snapped at him as he shifted in his bed.

"Alright you two, calm down." Yumi said to them as she let go of Ulrich's hand and walked over to Odd. "Come on Odd, let's go tell the others Ulrich's awake and get him something to eat." Yumi said as she headed to the door.

"Yeah, I'm sure Ulrich's tired of being fed with paste through a tube down his throat. See you in a few." Odd laughed as he left the room with Yumi, leaving Ulrich in the room.

"I'll be back soon Ulrich. Just lay back and relax." Yumi said to him as she left the room and closed the door.

Ulrich laid back as he covered his cut back up with the blanket. As Ulrich looked up to the ceiling lost in thought, his eyes suddenly widen as he leaned up in his bed and put both hands to his chest as a burning sensation ran through his entire cut. Sweat began to form at his head as the burning intensified until it slowly died down and he flopped back onto his bed, taking slow and deep breaths as he wiped the sweat away from his forehead. "What the hell was that about? What caused my chest to burn?" Ulrich asked himself with concern.

()()()()()()()()

Odd and Yumi reached the basement to be greeted by the others as Yumi told them the good news. "Guys! You're not going to believe it, Ulrich's awake." Yumi said to them with a smile.

The others cheered and even some clapped as Aelita and Kairaree gave Yumi a hug. After they were done celebrating Ulrich waking up, so of them went to greet him a few at a time as Z went to Dr. Renki to tell him Ulrich's awake. The gang then went to eat breakfast with Yumi bringing a tray for Ulrich, and one for herself.

"Hey Ulrich, I brought you some breakfast. I'm sure you're hungry for just about anything." Yumi said to him as she took a seat next to him and put the tray onto a pull out folding tray at the beds side as Ulrich made his bed fold up with a control remote so he was in a sitting position with his back against the upper part of the bed.

"Thanks Yumi, my stomachs killing me." Ulrich replied as he decided not to tell her about the burning sensation he had a while ago. As Yumi ate, Ulrich grabbed a fork and tried to scoop up some eggs only to gasp and drop the fork on his bed.

"Ulrich, are you okay?" She asked him as she stopped eating.

"I'm fine, my chest just hurts from moving around." Ulrich said as he picked up the fork.

"Here, let me help you. Your wound is still healing up, and you could break a stitch if you push yourself." Yumi calmly said to him as she took his fork and began to scoop up some food.

"That's okay Yumi, I can do it myself eventually." Ulrich nervously said as his cheeks turn red.

"It's fine Ulrich, your cuts going to take some time to heal, and we're all going to help you however we can." Yumi smiled to him as she brought the fork to his mouth. Ulrich decided not to fight it and just let her feed him until their breakfast was finished, and Yumi took the trays back.

After awhile, Dr. Renki came in to check on Ulrich one more time before clearing him for leaving the hospital. "Hello there young man, I heard you have awaken. You look quite well for someone who died on the table for over two minutes." Dr. Renki said to him as he brought in some medical equipment on a rolling tray.

"Wait, I died on the operation table?!" Ulrich almost shouted as he jerked up from his bed.

"Ulrich, this is Dr. Renki. He's the one who saved your life." Yumi said she introduced the arachun doctor to him.

"Well my assistance's also helped out too, I can't do it all by myself. But don't forget Yumi, you also helped saved his life too." Dr. Renki chuckled as he put on a stethoscope.

"What do you mean Yumi saved my life? What did she do?" Ulrich asked as he looked to her.

"I gave you a great deal of blood on the way to the hospital, then later after the surgery. I have type O blood, so I can give it to anyone." Yumi answered him in a almost shy tone.

"Just remember you can only give your blood to humans." Dr. Renki reminded her. "Now lets get you checked up before you can leave." He said to Ulrich as he put the stethoscope to his chest to begin the examination. He listened to Ulrich's breathing on his front and back, then checked over his stitching to see if there was any stress on the stitches, and to make sure the wound was beginning to close up. Then he helped Ulrich into a few different positions to see if the stitches will hold, and finally he made Yumi leave the room for a few minutes for the more 'thorough' examination, which made Yumi quickly leave the room, and Ulrich with a blank look on his face with his right eyebrow twitching.

Yumi walked down the hall as she waited for Ulrich's exam to finish up as she then noticed Z, Leadonus, and William walking towards her. "Hey guys, what's going on?" She asked them.

"We came by to tell Ulrich about the carrying stretcher, and then I'm going back to Davis to finally get a possible location on the black armored troops." Z explained to her.

"Are we really gonna go after the black armored troops so soon? Ulrich's still not fully healed." Yumi asked him.

"We know Yumi, but we can't waste this chance to find them." Leadonus said.

"Don't worry, we'll just keep him safe while we look for the troops. You and a few others can stay behind and protect Ulrich if you want to." William added.

"Okay, I'll stay back and look out for him. But how are we going to get around? Even though we have that stretcher to carry him around on, those raiders and the black armored troops still have over a day and a half head start on us." Yumi asked.

"No problem, Davis wanted some of us to come by and talk to him. I think he might give us a hand with finding the black armored troops and maybe the raider leader. If we take him out, the raider forces will be in shambles, and maybe done with in this region for good." Z said to her.

"I guess we still have to fight, even if some of us are injured." Yumi said as she sighed deeply.

"We need to keep pressing on Yumi. We can't let Xana get the edge, no matter what." William said sternly. Yumi slightly gasped at his comment, and William noticed Yumi getting a little upset at what he said. "Of course that's not what I mean Yumi. I mean we can't... that is to say..." William stuttered while trying to think of an excuse.

"It's alright William, I know what you mean. I'm going to go take a little walk while Ulrich finishes his examination." Yumi said as she continued to walk away.

Dr. Renki was finally finished with checking over Ulrich as the guys came in and told him about the stretcher made for carrying him around until he fully recovered. Ulrich gave in and agreed with them to be carried around until he recovered from his wound.

()()()()()()()()()()

Some of them decided it was time to go back to Davis and the Grand Militant camp. The place was busy with activity as troops did their daily duties. The troops seemed to be packing up equipment and weapons. The gang noticed Davis was giving orders around the camp as the troops worked. He then turned and spotted the gang as they walked towards him.

"Good morning young warriors, how are you doing?" Davis asked with a smile.

Z, Jeremie, Leadonus, Deotalus, Aracane, Bel'la, Jack, and Kairaree decided to be the ones to come and talk to him. "Morning Davis, we're doing fine, and Ulrich's finally woken up." Z said to him.

"He has? That's wonderful news, and good timing. We may have finally found the path the black armored troops are going." Davis said to them.

"Good, the sooner we find them, the sooner we can take them down." Leadonus said to him.

Davis lead them back to the tent where the Militant processes data and field tactics and showed them the touchscreen table as he brought up the recent data to show them. "Alright warriors, we inflicted a major blow on the raiders forces, and they have broken up into many groups. Their leader Talgo has been spotted with the Black armored troops, but the blademaster that was with them is nowhere to be seen." Davis said to them as he showed them photos of the raiders in many groups, and images of Talgo and the black armored troops.

"Do you think the raiders are done for after this battle?" Bel'la asked him.

"I hope so, but the raider leader Talgo needs to be taken out before he begin to recruit more raiders with the help of the black armored troops." Davis said as he showed them a new picture of Talgo and troops heading into a forest area.

"They seem to be retreating into a forest, but why go there?" Aracane asked Davis.

"It might be their only route of escape, or they could be trying to retreat and lay low until they can regain their numbers. It's hard to say at the moment." Davis pondered out loud.

"It won't matter what their doing, we need to put a stop to them once and for all." Said Jack seriously.

"Indeed. The raider leader and some of his men are a few hours away by vehicle, and the forest area is deep and vast with many valleys and hills. They have been there since the retreat at the abandoned town." Davis informed them as he showed them recon photos of Talgo and the black armored troops in various parts of the woods.

"The forest has roads, but it will still take us a long time to get there, and by that time they will be long gone." Kairaree pointed out to them.

"Which is why I'm giving you all your own set of wheels." Davis said with a smile as he pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and placed it on the table.

"Oh no Davis, you've already done enough for us. We can't make you part with one of your military trucks, especially if it's expensive." Bel'la said to him.

"It's fine, the keys go to an old one I bought some time ago. It has eight wheels and a big carrying back for you all to hang out in. The truck has a full tank in it with two backup tanks in it the same size as the first, so you can drive for some time. So you will hopefully catch up with them before it's too late." Davis smiled to them.

"I suppose we can use that for as long as possible. But we'll need to leave out soon." Jeremie said to them.

"Indeed you should. We're moving out to counter the remaining raiders that are spread out while leaving a few dozen troops behind for added protection. And in case you're wondering if it's okay to drive the truck around, it is. The trucks old and out of date, and any person could get it for either a museum or private collection." Davis said to them as he gave Z the keys.

Z took the keys and put them in his pocket. "Thanks again Davis, and if you don't mind, I'll get some more ammo for my new rifle and a few more grenades for my launcher." Z said to him.

"Sure thing, take as much as you can carry, we got plenty. I'm just sorry we can't help you with the raider leader, but a leader is nothing without an army to back him up." Davis said to them.

"We understand, if those raiders spread out without a leader, they will raid and attack anything and anyone they want." Jack said as he thought over the things they could do to people.

"Then we don't have a moment to waste. Let's go load up Ulrich and begin our search for the raider leader and the black armored troops." Leadonus said to them.

The others nodded in agreement and followed Davis to the back of the camp and found a loan truck with a top covering it. They all pulled the top off to find the truck he was talking about. It was large and low to the ground for stability, with two large wheels at the front, and six smaller wheels at the back. The armored back had a large sitting area with plenty of storage cabinets above the sitting area, and a big enough floor to lay Ulrich down on.

"This thing is perfect, we got a new means to travel." Kairaree said to them as she climbed in the back to look around.

"It will definitely be nice to get around faster, and we can search for more leads faster after we take care of the black armored troops." Aracane said to them.

"It's a sturdy truck, and it may be beat to hell, but it's very reliable to use and get around." Davis said to them as he looked it over one more time.

"Then in that case I'll go get some ammo for my rifle, and we'll get moving. Thanks again Davis, I don't know how we could ever repay you for this." Z said to him gratefully.

"Just make sure that nobody else suffers the way those raiders have made others suffer. If you could put an end to them, this raider faction will be done for good." Davis said to them as he leaned against the truck.

"We will, we promise." Z swore as he walked off to get ammo for his new weapons.

Z loaded up on over a dozen drum clips and a few slings of grenades for his launcher and put them in the back of the truck before going to the driver seat with Kairaree already in the passenger seat as Z turned on the truck with the others and Davis in it as they drove back to the hospital.

()()()()()()()()()()

Back in the hospital Ulrich was finally done with his exam as Yumi, Odd, Aelita, and Miodelus came back into his room to check on him with his clothes and sabers. They walked in as Ulrich was sitting at the edge of his bed a little hunched over.

"Hey there Ulrich, nice to see you back on your feet again." Odd said to him with a smile as he carried in his sabers.

"Nice to be back on my feet indeed. And I see you took care of my sabers." Ulrich said to him.

"We brought your clothes back, do you need any help putting them back on?" Yumi asked him.

Ulrich's cheeks blushed a little from her question as he chuckled nervously. "It's fine Yumi, I'm not completely helpless yet. I'll get dressed on my own." Ulrich nervously said to her as he blushed.

"Okay Ulrich, we'll let you get dressed and gather our stuff up before we leave out." Aelita said as she left the room.

"Just remember to thank Jack for fixing your outfit, he used his awesome magic." Miodelus said with a wide smile.

Ulrich held up the top and looked it over in amazement over the fact that it looked like new, as if it never been cut. "Wow, it really looks like new, as if it never been worn before. I'll be sure to thank Jack later." Ulrich said to them.

"We'll see you in a few minutes Ulrich." Yumi said to him as they left the room except for Odd who stood at the door for a few moments until the others were gone.

"You know Ulrich, if you ask real nice... Yumi might give you a sponge bath." Odd laughed with his hands at his side. Ulrich growled in frustration as grabbed the plastic cup on the table and threw it at him as Odd yelped and ran out the door and closed it just in time as the cup hit the door and landed on the floor.

Ulrich slowly put his clothes back on, he got his pants and boots on with ease, then began to put his top back on. He had to force the left sleeve up his arm until he reached his shoulder and sluggishly got the right one back on and zipped it closed and fasten it up to hide the zipper and put his gloves on too, and finally secured his sabers onto his back. He looked over and saw his headband on the night stand and grabbed it and put it back onto his head.

With his outfit fully back on, he looked at himself in a mirror by the door and almost didn't recognize himself as he gazed into it. Suddenly a pain surged through him as he dropped to his knees as the pain that felt like fire burned across his cut as he began to sweat again until the pain faded away.

He took ragged breaths as the pain went away. "Again? Why is this happening?" Ulrich said to himself as he was for some reason getting angry.

()()()()()()()()

Z pulled up to the hospitals back and they all got out and went back inside. They walked down to the basement where the others were ready to go whenever. They began to gather their stuff before heading out, they put on their backpacks, they gathered their weapons, and even Deo secured his welding goggles on his forehead. They then left the basement carrying the stretcher up to Ulrich's room and found him sitting on the bed.

"Hello Ulrich, nice to see you up and about." Z said to him as they walked in.

"Nice to see you too Z, I guess that's the stretcher you were talking about." Ulrich asked him as he spotted the stretcher that some of them were carrying.

"This is something Deo whipped up. We're going to use it to carry you around when we're on foot for the duration of your recovery." Leadonus said to him.

"What? That's crazy, I don't need it right now-" Ulrich tried to say as he got up from his bed, only to fall to his knees as he pushed himself to hard.

Yumi saw him getting up ran over to him. "Ulrich no, don't push yourself." Yumi said as she ran to his side to help him up.

"I can see you don't want to be carried around like a kid in a carriage, and we have some wheels now, so we'll carry you when we're on foot again or need to make an escape." Eli'ton chuckled to him.

"Is the stretcher even necessary to have? I'm not that banged up." Ulrich asked as Yumi helped him up.

"Think about it for a moment Ulrich." Alpha said as he walked in with his mask cloak on. "You can barely stand on your own, and you are in no condition to fight for now. And especially getting around is difficult for you, so we need to have a means to transport you if we need to run or retreat." Alpha reasoned to him.

Ulrich sighed as he stood back up. "Fine, but I don't want to use it now, especially if we have wheels of our own." Ulrich said as Yumi helped him walk.

"Let me give you a hand there Yumi." Odd said to her as he helped Ulrich stand up too.

"Speaking of which, how did we get a new truck to ride around in? Did you steal it Z?" Knulgen asked.

"I didn't steal it, Davis gave it to us so we can go after the raider leader and the black armored troops." Z answered him, knowing that Knulgen was just be sarcastic.

As the gang left the room with Ulrich being helped out, Alpha was the last one standing in the room about to leave before he suddenly turned around. He looked in the far corner of the room and began to scan through his mask as he picked up a strange signature that was barely detectible by even his scanners.

"Alpha, are you coming?" Jeremie called out to him, catching the robots attention.

Alpha turned to him quickly while pausing his scans. "Yes, I am coming." He answered as Jeremie left the room, and he turned back to the corner. Whatever he was trying to scan was completely gone, and Alpha turned away and left the room with concern about the strange anomaly.

The gang made it down to the back of the hospitals where the truck was parked, with Davis and Dr. Renki waiting for them.

"Well I see you're all ready to go." Davis said to them.

"Yeah, thanks again for the truck, we'll treat it well." William said as he got on in the back while placing the stretcher in it.

Ulrich slowly walked up to Dr. Renki as Yumi and Odd helped keep him steady. "I just want to say thank you again for saving my life. I know it must have been difficult to operate on by cut." Ulrich said to him as he shook Renki's hand.

"It was no problem, it is my duty as a doctor to do what I can to save my patients." Dr. Renki replied as he shook his hand in return. "But just remember not to push yourself or your stitches will break." Dr. Renki reminded him as he reached into his pocket and pulled out three pill bottles and held them out to Ulrich. "Here, you need to take these pill as instructed on the bottle, go ahead and take one soon." Dr. Renki instructed as he gave him the bottles.

"Sure thing, my cuts already starting to hurt already." Ulrich said as he took one bottle while Yumi held onto the rest as Ulrich took a pill and swallowed it.

"Alright, that must be some of the good stuff." Knulgen said as he looked at the bottles.

"If you even try to pop a pill, we'll kick your ass." Aracane warned as they began to load up on the truck.

As the gang began to load in the truck with Ulrich lying down on his stretcher since he couldn't sit down for a long time, Z turned to Davis to give his final farewell. "I guess this is it. Thanks for everything and good bye." Z said as he held out his hand.

"Until the next time." Davis said as he took his hand and shook. "Good luck young warriors, thanks again for wanting to take out the raider leader, it means a lot. Take care of Ulrich, and we'll meet again one day." He smiled.

Z loaded up onto the truck with Ararcane sitting in the passenger seat as the others were good to go in the back with their backpacks in a corner. Z turned on the g.p.s. and used it to track down the raider leader and the black armored troops last location and turned the truck on and began to drive off with Davis and Dr. Renki waving good bye as the gang headed out to finally catch the black armored troops.

()()()()()()()()()()

Deep in the forests the raider leader Talgo was sitting on a fell log with a pile of ashes in front of him from the fires they burned at night for almost two nights. To say that Talgo was in a bad mood was a horrid understatement, his men kept their distance from him in fear of enraging him as they walked around their makeshift camp. They had brought much food and water, and of course alcohol, but also caught wildlife too to keep themselves busy. Some paced around their perimeter while others cleaned their weapons and sharpened their blades.

Talgo sat deep in thought while hunched over with his hands together and holding his chin up for support as he reflected on what has happened. In only a day and a half, he lost almost a third of his men while the remaining raiders have broken off into groups and have most likely disbanded from his raider legion, which made Talgo extremely angry since he only had more then a hundred left of his raiders with him and the black armored troops still with them.

The lead troop that was human walked over to where Talgo sat. "You have barely said a word since we retreated from the abandoned town. I wonder if you're able to continue leading your men?" The lead troop asked him.

Talgo's reptile tail and long ears flicked as the lead troops words angered him. "Am I not able to lead my men? What men?!" He yelled with pure anger as he lunged up from his seat and startled the rest of his men that were walking around or stopped working on their weapons. "They are either dead or ran off, leaving me with barely a handful of what men I have left! And yet you have the nerve to come to me and say I'm unfit to lead?!" Talgo yelled as the black armored troop didn't even flinch from his rampage.

"If you are trying to make me fear your rage, it is sadly in vain. Do not concern yourself with those who deserted you, if they fled it simply means that they are not able to stand behind you ready to face the new world. Your loses will pale in comparison to the new order you and many others will create once Xana takes over this world." The lead troop calmly said.

"Apart of the new world, what new world?! What difference does it make?! Your master Xana just sounds like another madmen trying to take over the world for his own gains. Do you really think someone like that gives a fuck about you or anybody else who serves him?!" Talgo questioned him.

The lead troop just chuckled behind his mask at Talgo's annoyance. "Don't be such a fool, Xana greatly rewards those who are loyal to him, if you could only imagine the powers Xana possesses. You must be patient and Xana will reward you with a better army then what you had before. Now rest up, we will leave in only a few hours." The lead troops said as he turned and walked back to the other two troops at the far end of the camp.

As the troops were finally back in their group, one of Talgo's higher-ups walked over to talk to him, he was an average looking molknuc with a few dreadlocks. "Excuse me boss, I've been thinking." He said to Talgo.

"Thinking about what?" Talgo said without looking at him.

"Well you see, I think we should just cut our loses with these guys and just get out of here." He said as he glanced over to the troops on the other side of the camp.

"What?! Have you lost your goddamn mind?!" Talgo almost shouted.

"But boss, these people are complete weirdos, they just show up at our camp one day and promise us a better future. Then they bring in all kinds of weapons and buggies to us so we can take over other raider faction. I'm telling you, no one just helps raider for the hell of it." His higher-up pointed out.

"And what do you suggest we do? Should we sneak away in the middle of the night and leave them here in the forest?" Talgo mockingly asked.

"I suggest we do try to get away from them. There is something very wrong with those three. All this time they've been with us, they never even once taken off their armor, or even eaten any food, I don't think anyone has seen them asleep, they just stand in a line without even moving. No form of discipline can make someone like that." The higher-up pointed out.

Talgo sat there for thinking on what his higher-up said and realized what he said was disturbingly true. "I suppose you have a point. If these troops continue to anger me, or if their deal proves it's not worth waging war, we'll kill them, simple as that." Talgo said as he leaned back on his log and glanced over to the black armored troops standing under a shaded tree on the other end of the camp.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()

The gang rode in the large military truck with the raiders only a few hours away as the town they were in was now faded away. Ulrich was lying down on the stretcher while Yumi sat at his side and the others just sat around in their seats having small chats and preparing themselves for the fight to come.

"So guys, what's the plan once we find those raiders?" Odd asked everyone.

"For starters, we'll head into the forest and find a clearing to park." Z said as he drove the truck.

"We will then head out into the forest using the g.p.s to narrow down their last position and Alpha's infrared to find them. If their all together, their combined body heat will allow us to find them better." Jeremie added.

"Yumi, if you want, you can stay with Ulrich while we search." Kairaree said to her.

"I think it's best you stay with them too Aelita, we'll handle those raiders and the black armored troops." Bel'la added.

"You can't be serious? I can't just sit every fight out that we come across." Aelita protested.

"Listen Aelita, you still inexperienced in fighting, and you still don't know how to use your Energy Field. So it's you hang back and help Yumi with whatever she needs." Deotalus calmly said to her.

"It's okay Aelita, it's no big deal to hang back from the fight. Look at me, I'm going to be out of the fight for some time." Ulrich joked while still lying on the stretcher.

"Fine, if you guys really want me to sit this one out, I will. I just hate feeling useless and unable to help." Aelita sighed as she leaned back in her seat.

"You're not useless Aelita. You've saved our lives in Lyoko countless times, and that's not something a person who is useless can do. You'll find something you can do, you just have to wait." Yumi said to her smiling.

"I guess, but it's still not fun to be sitting on the sidelines while you guys fight... and well," Aelita tried to say before William put a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry princess, your brave nights will fight in your place." William said to her.

"Hey! Calling her princess is my line." Odd said to him.

"Shouldn't you be calling Sam princess instead?" Jack joked to him with a wicked smile.

Everyone laughed as Odd and Sam blushed from Jack's joke as they both noticed they were sitting very close together and quickly scooted away from each other as the others continued to laugh at them.

()()()()()()()()()()()()

Far away in a remote land in a mountain area filled with nothing but desert with the only source of water was the ocean shore. A few miles away from the shore was a small mountain that had a hidden base inside it with a secret entrance near it. Deep inside was a large science base filled with scientists and many troops, all marked with Xana's symbol on their armor. The walls had Xana's mark here and there to show that he rules this base.

In a far secluded part of the base was a private lab where many scientists worked with two very familiar beings. Smoketay stood in the middle of the room smoking cigars as the people worked. Ukai was shouting orders as they continued to build a massive machine in the very center of the room.

The machine in the room was like a massive pod with many cables under it, and above it. There was a round ring platform with many control terminals with cables connected to it with another round level above them with just as many control terminals and cables connected to it.

Smoketay took the last puff from his cigar as he began to walk towards a group of scientists. "How much longer until we're ready to begin the revival?" He asked them as he lit a new cigar.

"We are almost ready. We just need to divert more power from the back up systems." A human scientist answered.

"Well hurry up! We can't wait any longer!" Ukai shouted from the second level platform.

"Patients Ukai. Xana can wait a few minutes longer." Smoketay said to him as he tapped some ashes off his cigar.

"How can you say something so blasphemous?! Xana has been gone for too long, and yet you say he can wait a few more minutes, Smoketay?" Ukai yelled from the platform.

"Oh go chase a car or something and shut up you beastly dog thing." Smoketay said unimpressed by his fury.

"Master Smoketay, master Ukai. We have full power, and ready to commence the revival." Another scientist said.

"Excellent, you may begin when ready." Smoketay said as he walked away from the pod structure and walked towards the safety areas. The scientists began to work as the room began to power up.

The hum of electricity was heard as the cables at the top and bottom of the pod began to glow dark purple. "We have power, the revival stage is at 4% and climbing." A scientist at a terminal shouted.

"Raise power at a steady pace and keep monitoring the output." Smoketay ordered.

The scientists began to work harder as the power began to surge throughout the room. The cables began to glow brighter with electricity sparking all over the place, making the room become dangerous.

"Power is at 38% and rising." The scientist shouted as his terminal began to overload.

"We're almost there, Xana is beginning to form. His body is shaping up." Ukai shouted as he looked over the data on his terminal.

"Power at 68%, we're about to reach critical!" The scientist yelled as his terminal began to spark.

The room began to shake as roof panels began to fall, and power cables overloaded and exploded. a terminal area in the corner exploded and sent metal shrapnel flying, killing a few scientists and guards as a large metal shard flew towards Smoketay. The piece spin through the air as he turned and blew a plum of smoke at the shard and turned it into ash and scatter to the floor.

"Power at 72%, we can't keep this up or the whole base will blow!" He shouted before the terminal blew up and killed him instantly.

"Someone take his place! We need to keep monitoring the revival!" Ukai ordered.

The room began to shake more and more as the cables on the pod began to rip apart from the overload of power. The scientists scrambled around the room either screaming or trying to get control of the situation by rerouting power, or calibrating the data processors and converters. While everyone panicked, Smoketay simply stood at his position, not even bothered by the commotion in the room while Ukai dodged falling panels from his upper deck.

"Power at 89%, we're almost there!" A new scientist said to everyone.

The pod began to glow as light poured out of the cracks and crevasses of the pod. The center door struggled to stay closed as the room felt like they were caught in an earthquake.

"Power at 100%! Xana is complete!" The scientist shouted!

The power within the massive pod burst as a wave of black and dark purple energy surged out and knocked almost everyone down or flipped them over and electrocuted those who were too close as Smoketay simply stood there with his coat that hanged on his shoulders flapped about from the energy gust while Ukai leaped down from his level as the power in the pod began to whir down.

The room was dark with only the emergency lights on as the scientists got themselves back up after being knocked down from the energy gust and tried to get the power back on into the room. Suddenly a loud bang was heard against the doors of the pod that startled everyone in the room as another bang hit the pod doors again. Over and over the banging was heard against the door as some of the scientists near the pod backed away as the pod shook from the banging. The banging stopped as a new sound filled the room, the doors were being forced opened as the bar locks on the door began to break. Finally the doors slid open as a light flooded the room from within the pod as the next sound they heard was loud footsteps walking down the ramp as the people finally saw the reformed figure.

"I have returned! Your master, your lord, your true god, is reborn!" Xana shouted to the people within the room. Xana's body was solid and humanoid, it resembled a persons body, but without the skin, showing the black muscles of someone who's in very great shape, but didn't have any toes, but his red eyes could be seen through his transparent symbol.

Ukai quickly ran over and kneeled before him. "Lord Xana, welcome back." Ukai said with his head down.

"Those foolish warriors could never destroy me! They fight against me in vain, and in time, even if they destroy my body a million times, I can never be annihilated!" Xana said to him as the other scientists hailed their master.

Smoketay walked towards him with a cigar in one hand, and holding a large metal case in the other. "Hello again Xana, glad to see you in one piece. Well... mostly in one piece." Smoketay chuckled as he placed the case on the floor in front of Xana.

"I see that you managed to get what I need assembled." Xana said to him, annoyed by his tone.

"It was no problem, your instructions from the 'great beyond' or whatever people call it were very clear. Your special inventors and lab people and such built it in only a few days." Smoketay said with a smile as he puffed his cigar and gave the case a gentle kick.

The electronic locks on the case opened as the lid flipped up and showed the new armor for him. Xana raised his right hand and waved over the armor, a electrical surge rattled the armor as the parts flew up into the air around Xana. Two black and gray grieves flew to his legs and locked in place as metal plating began to stretch and for around his lower legs and feet until the plating stopped above his knees. Two arm grieves did the same thing as the armor locked in place and the strange plating formed around his arms and hands until it stopped above the elbows. Large armor pieces flew to the front of his chest and upper back and the plating began to form out. The plating in the ab area was dark green while the upper parts were a lighter gray with white and black inlets with two long pointed, metallic yellow shoulder pads. Four black sleeve like plating flew to the upper parts of his legs and arms to fill in the gaps as the plating near his neck slid up his head until it locked in place with his mask with his symbol glowing a slight red. Finally two large rectangle shaped objects flew to the upper parts of his arms and locked in place, completing Xana's new armor.

"Interesting choice of detail, but I must admit, I miss the cape. It shows that you are powerful person, kinda like my cape." Smoketay casually said as he took another puff.

"You don't wear a cape. You drape your coat over your shoulder you fool!" Ukai grumbled at him.

"Enough! I am not here to do fashion statements." Xana said to them as his symbol burned red. "Now I must head to the main communication relay, I must let all my loyal followers and armies know that their master has returned." Xana said as he passed the two and walked through the room until he reached the door as the scientists hailed him as he passed.

"He certainly doesn't waste any time. Straight to business as always." Smoketay chuckled as he took another puff.

The two followed Xana as Ukai ordered to the people in the room to clean up the place. As they walked down the halls of the base, Xana's soldiers and other personnel hailed and praised the return of their master as they passed. They finally reached a elevator and got in as it automatically went until they reached a dark room that was the very top of the mountain base with most of the communications systems were. Xana walked to the center room where a massive terminal with a large main screen, and many monitors that had robotic arm like systems controlled the positions, and a long structure that reached to the top of the roof with cables running throughout the place.

Xana walked to it as it came to life and the small monitors began to move around while showing tons of data as the main monitor awaited his message. Xana raised his arms as a secret signal that only he could give out, and only those who knew it could receive it.

"Hear me now my loyal followers, your master has returned to life!" Xana said as his voice echoed throughout the planet. All across the world in the many bases of Xana, his followers heard his voice coming in from their communication transmitters. "My powers have come back to me, as well as my physical form. And soon, the young warriors who dared to defy me will pay greatly for their transgressions." Xana said into the communications systems.

"A powerful speech Xana, maybe you should make a tv show next." Smoketay chuckled as he tapped some ashes off his cigar.

"Silence Smoketay! I have no time for your comments, and I must hurry. I know the location of the young warriors." Xana said to him as he changed the signal.

"You know where they are? How did you learn this?" Ukai asked him.

"When I was in my specter form, and drifting through realms, I found them in a town very near where three of my most loyal warriors are assisting a pack of raider filth that I am using to keep the Grand Militant busy." Xana answered him.

"Ah yes, those three. Those young warriors will have their hands full if they fight him." Smoketay said as he took another puff.

"That is the desired intention. Ulrich is injured and unable to fight, he will be an easy target as my warriors separate and finally finish them once and for all." Xana smiled through his symbol as he finally found their signal.

()()()()()()()()()

The three black armored troops heard Xana's signal, but still stood in their position as they listened to his orders from inside their helmets. When Xana finally finished giving them orders, the lead troop walked over to the raider leader. "Talgo, I need you to gather a few of your men, at least a dozen or so." The lead troop said to him.

"What?! Why would I do that?!" Talgo asked him furiously.

"We're going to have company soon. Those warriors are on their way here, and one of them is very injured." The lead troop explained to the raider leader.

"So what does that have to do with me and a few of my men?" Talgo wondered as he got up.

"They will come into the woods and look for us and fight. You and me will take out their injured member while my troops will assist your men here. They will defeat the warriors when they get here, while you and I will take out their injured friend and anyone of them who stays behind." The troop said as he paced around.

"When will they be here?" Talgo asked.

"Soon, real soon. So we have no time to waste." The lead troop answered.

"Fine, let's get moving." Talgo grumbled as he gathered his men.

()()()()()()()()()()()

The gang pulled into a clearing with a dirt ground as they hopped out. They gathered their weapons while Yumi opened the back to get some air while Aelita sat in a seat across from Ulrich.

"Well guys, this is it. Lets hit them hard and fast." Z said as he cocked his rifle.

"Yeah, lets teach them a lesson on what happens when people mess with us." Ralfaius smiled as he twirled his sais.

"If you want Yumi, we'll bring back a few raiders for you to kill." Knulgen said as he drew his sword.

"No thanks, have fun." Yumi said to him with a little sarcasm.

"Just hang tight you three, we'll be back soon." Odd said to them.

"Just be careful and watch out for each other." Aelita smiled to them.

"Same here." Ulrich added.

"Alright Alpha, lets do this." Jeremie said as he stood in front of the battle robot.

"Understood." Alpha replied as his chest plates opened and the cables came out and wrapped around his body and loaded him into his systems.

The gang walked off into the forest while Ulrich, Yumi, and Aelita stayed by the truck. On a hill, not way to far from them stood the lead troop, Talgo, and over a dozen of his men as they waited until the others were far out of site. The lead troop smiled behind his mask as the three of them were finally alone and vulnerable to them.

**END CHAPTER.**


End file.
